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FOUR PRINCES 

OR 

THE GROWTH OF A KINGDOM 

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BY 

JAMES A. B. SCHERER, Ph.D. 

FOUNDER OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSION IN JAPAN 
TEACHER IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE UNITED SYNOD 
PASTOR OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA 



Zu finden die allgemeine 
Gcschichte in Einzcldarstellungen" 



PHILADELPHIA 

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES CO. 

1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 24 i906 

Copyriffht Entry 

CLASS Os XXc, No. 

COPY B. 



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A' 



Copyright, 1902 

BY 

J. B. LipPiNCOTT Company 



Copyright, 190.S 

BY 

James A. B. Scherer 



2De&icate& 

TO 

ALL WHO LOVE AN INTERESTING STORY 

WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT IF THEY ARE 

DISAPPOINTED IT IS THE FAULT 

NOT OF THE STORY 

BUT OF 

THE AUTHOR 



KEY 

Mark 4 : 26-28 

"SO IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD : 

"As if a man should cast seed 
into the ground ; . . . and 
The Seed. the seed should spring and Paul. 

grow up, he knoweth not 
how. . . ." 

The Blade. "First the blade," Constantine. 

The Ear. " Then the ear, " Bernard. 

-,, _, "After that the full corn in the T ,, 

The Corn. Luther. 

ear." 



FOREWORD 

The three greatest structures standing in the 
world to-day are the Pyramids of Egypt, the 
Parthenon at Athens, and St. Peter's Cathedral 
in Rome. It is a striking fact that these three 
structures represent, in successive order, pre- 
cisely the three chief contributions of all time 
to human history and human civilization. 

The Pyramid — The Great Pyramid, already 
two thousand years old when Abraham visited 
the Pharaoh, is still the most prodigious of hu- 
man constructions. A city of twenty-two thou- 
sand houses could be built from its cubic con- 
tents. According to Herodotus, with whom in 
this respect modern scholars agree, a hundred 
thousand men must have been employed con- 
tinuously for twenty years in its construction. 

But the chief interest of the Great Pyramid 
lies in this: that it is a fit symbol of that sub- 
lime foundation, laid first on the banks of the 
Nile and the Euphrates, whereon all superstruc- 
tures in the arts and letters have been reared. 
For the East is the birthplace of history, the 
early home of civilization. Out of the East 
came light. We of the West are proud and 

9 



FOREWORD 



glad in the sunshine. Let us not forget grati- 
tude for the mysterious and bountiful Orient, 
which has been the ultimate source of all the 
brightness that has come to bless our world. 

The Parthenon. — What the lands of the Pyra- 
mid began, the land of the Parthenon completed. 
The liberal arts reached their climax of develop- 
ment in Greece. The Parthenon to this day re- 
mains the most perfect work of art that has 
been produced. In the phrase of Emerson, — 

"Earth proudly wears the Parthenon 
As the best gem upon her zone." 

To-day our highest art is but a feeble imitation 
of the art of Phidias and Zeuxis. And as with 
art, so was it with philosophic thought. The 
world's great trinity of intellectual giants lived 
in Greece consecutively. When Socrates was 
forty years old Plato was born, to become his 
disciple ; and Aristotle, when eighteen years old, 
became in turn the pupil of Plato. It was the 
golden age of the giants. Down to this day 
their influence on human life and character is 
inestimable. Even Christian theology, as to its 
form, has been plastic under the immortal touch 
of Plato and Aristotle, who died centuries be- 
fore our Lord was born. Mystics, we call the 
kinsmen of Plato ; and of the other, rationalists. 
Between these two hostile camps are fought all 

10 



FOREWORD 



the great intellectual battles of Christendom. It 
were not too much to say that the human mind, 
working upward, reached its summit in the days 
of ancient Greece. 

St. Peter's — Then, " when the fulness of time 
was come," the mind of God came down to meet 
the mind of man. What the East was to the 
early world, and Greece to the ancient world, 
far more is Christianity to the world since 
Greece. If the mystic pyramids speak of the 
sunrise glory of the Orient, and if the Parthenon 
symbolizes the culture of Greece, then the Cathe- 
dral at Rome, at once the highest visible expres- 
sion of the papacy, and an occasion, in its build- 
ing, for the rise of Protestantism,* represents 
the last and greatest factor in the development 
of human history. The story of the religion 
of our Lord Jesus Christ has been the story 
of modern man. Dionysius the Little conceived 
a great idea when he proposed that we date our 
era from Christ's birth. For that year was, in- 
deed, the central year in the history of the world. 
The upward soaring trains of human thought 
which began with the first flash of intelligence 
in Adam, and culminated in the shining ideals 
of the three Greek giants, had all been leading 
straight towards the Eastern star, with whose 

* See page 203. 
11 



FOREWORD 



divine rays this upreaching brightness met and 
merged gloriously on the first Christmas morn- 
ing. " All things were created by Him, and for 
Him." Man's progress had been God's prepa- 
ration. Likewise, all history since that morn- 
ing has been but the record of the universal dif- 
fusion of the beams from the Bethlehem star, — 
a record of the growth of a kingdom. For, as 
was said just now, the history of the Christian 
religion has been the history of modern human 
progress. We date our era from its birth. The 
name of Jehovah-God we stamp upon our coins. 
The Bible so permeates our literature that to 
blot out the one were to erase the other. The 
once hated cross is now our best-loved symbol; 
and always there dwells in this simple transverse 
figure a dignity and glory belonging to no other 
symbol known to man. Christianity is the one 
world-wide fraternity, with four hundred mil- 
lion pledged members, with halls for meeting in 
every hamlet, with common rites, and prayers 
of hoary dignity; uniting men of every clime 
into one vast brotherhood whose head is Christ, 
its badge the cross, and where the simple coun- 
tersign is Faith. 

Christianity a World Fact — This by way of 
introduction. I desire to suggest some hint of 
the supreme dignity and grandeur of Christian- 
ity as a world fact; some notion of its impor- 

12 



FOREWORD 



tance as the great completing influence in the 
development of history ; and then to ask whether 
we may not find it worth our while to trace a 
brief but clear outline of its growth. To this 
end our story shall be energized with flesh and 
blood. Men, and not periods, will mark our 
progress. In a word, I propose that we turn 
our eyes successively on four great men, in four 
widely separated ages, and seek to crystallize 
our thoughts around them in such a way as that, 
when we have done, we shall see more clearly, 
as an actual historical entity, " the church of 
the living God, which is the pillar and ground 
of the truth." The idea which too many Chris- 
tians have of Christianity is bounded by the 
near horizon of a single denomination, or even 
of a single isolated congregation. What won- 
der, then, that their views are narrow, bigotry 
taking the place of devotion ! Or what wonder 
that so many fail to serve, where they do not 
know how to respect! Ignorance of the church 
begets either a lax or a bigoted churchmanship. 
But to know church history, however briefly, is 
to wonder and admire, which means a widened 
sympathy and a deepened devotion. 

Development is not always Progress. — Many 
things, indeed, will come to view, as we watch 
the development of the church, that are any- 
thing but admirable. We shall look now and 

13 



FOREWORD 



then upon dark and troubled scenes. But we 
must remember that the kingdom has perforce 
a human side as well as a divine side. " The 
seed is the word of God," but " the field is the 
world," with its varied evil soils. Remember, 
too, that the idea of growth does not imply un- 
broken progress, but rather includes, although 
it eventually overcomes, phases and periods of 
deterioration. Yet in spite of all this, and, 
indeed, rather the more gloriously because of 
all this, the reverent watcher will perceive the 
divine plant moving upward through sun and 
shade, calm or tempest, steadily towards the sea- 
son of the ripened corn, the age of the golden 
harvest. 

The Four Princes — So, then, I ask you to 
watch with me "The Growth of a Kingdom" 
— and that the kingdom of God — under four of 
the mighty princes of this kingdom. The first of 
them belonged to the apostolic age ; the second, 
to the fourth Christian century ; the third, to the 
middle ages; and the last, to the Reformation. 
All of them belong to all time. The first was 
a scholar and an artisan ; the second an emperor 
and a warrior ; while the third and the last were 
monks. Considered nationally, they represent 
the four great racial influences that have succes- 
sively given to the church its human form : the 
first was a Jew, the second a Graeco-Roman, the 

14 



FOREWORD 



third a Franco-Italian, and the fourth a Teu- 
ton. Considered typically, they represent four 
of the most influential types among the workers 
of God's kingdom, — missionary, ruler, mystic, 
and reformer. Their names are Paul, the apostle ; 
Constantine, the emperor; Bernard, the abbot 
of Clairvaux; and Martin Luther, the founder 
of Protestantism. 



15 



I. SEED-TIME 

Paul 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

i. Paul, the Witness 21 

2. Paul, the Planter 29 

3. The Soil, the Season, and the Watering . . 37 

II. THE MAGIC BLADE 

Constantine 

1. A Miracle of Growth 59 

2. The Worm of Worldliness 75 

3. Development 87 

III. HIDDEN EARS 

Bernard 

1. A Second Constantine 107 

2. The Refuge from the World 1 20 

3. Bernard of Clairvaux 139 

IV. RIPENING CORN 

Luther 

1. The Awakening of Europe 169 

2. The Man for the Hour 195 

3. Results of the Reformation 234 

2 17 



I 

SEED-TIME 

PAUL 



FOUR PRINCES 

OR 

THE GROWTH OF A KINGDOM 



i. PAUL, THE WITNESS 

Here are two pictures. 

The background of the first picture is the in- 
terior of Herod's temple, more gorgeous even 
that that of Solomon. We have passed through 
the walls of snowy marble, covered over with 
gold; through the gate of Corinthian brass, 
called by pre-eminence " beautiful ;" and then 
through the court of the Gentiles, up into that 
sanctuary where none but the men of Israel are 
allowed to come. See the splendid adornments 
of the golden vine, with clusters as large as a 
man's body! See the rich Babylonian drapery, 
where the colors symbolize the elements, — blue 
for air, yellow for earth, scarlet for fire, and 
purple for the sea. Such is the setting for our 
picture. 

The First Figure. — And here, in the fore- 
front, where he may be seen of all, stands the 

21 



SEED-TIME 



solitary central figure, the figure of a proud 
young man, by birth a very Brahman ; cultured, 
pious, stern. He is clad in the richest of Ori- 
ental robes, which reach to his sandalled feet. 
A turban is wound about his head. His beard 
is long and flowing. Bound between his eyes 
is an amulet, called phylactery, on which are 
written, in mystic characters, four passages 
from the holy Law. Thus he stands, his face 
upturned, his eyes upraised, his hands outspread. 

What is he doing, this courtly, pious man? 
Why does he stand in this central place of the 
splendid temple, where he may be seen of all? 
His lips move. Let us draw nearer, that we 
may catch his words. Ah ! he is at prayer. Is 
it not written in Scripture that God's house shall 
be called the place of prayer? It is surely a 
beautiful custom that this great sanctuary should 
be always open for men to come in and pray. 
Away from their learning or their labor, they 
come into the holy house for converse and com- 
munion with their Maker. Let us listen to this 
strong man's prayer. It is in keeping with his 
whole appearance. 

" God," he cries, in a tone suggestive of fa- 
miliarity, almost of condescension, — " God, I 
thank Thee!" True prayer always includes 
thankfulness, and surely this rich man, with all 
his blessings, has much for which to be humbly 

22 




PAUL 



(Rembrandt) 



PAUL 

grateful. Yet his is anything but a humble 
thanksgiving. He cannot forget self, even while 
he prays; his greatest blessing is himself. 
" God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men 
are!" He is conscious of his favoritism with 
God, and is not at all surprised over it, since 
he knows himself to be so much better than his 
fellows. His lips curl with scorn as he names 
the vulgar classes. " Extortioners ! unjust ! 
adulterers! or even as this publican," he adds, 
with a contemptuous gesture towards an ob- 
scure figure hardly discernible yonder in the 
gloom. Then, with the relish of an epicure in 
all the virtues, he describes himself, in contrast 
with those others of the vulgar herd: "I fast 
twice in the week!" "I give tithes of all I 
possess." 

This is such an interesting man, let us learn 
more about him. We are told that he was born 
in a cultured city on the banks of the Mediter- 
ranean, a few years after Christ; that he comes 
of purest Hebrew parentage, yet with all the 
rights of a citizen of Rome. His family pro- 
vided the best of educations for the young aris- 
tocrat. When he had finished the academies of 
his native town, they sent him to the capital; 
and there, under the last of the mighty doctors, 
this gifted and ardent youth was " taught ac- 
cording to the perfect manner of the law of the 

23 



SEED-TIME 



fathers." He entered with all the zeal of an 
enthusiastic temperament the wide field of rab- 
binical learning, and grew to manhood with a 
burning zeal for the defence of the law; pre- 
pared to defend the pure traditions of the fathers 
at any cost. Having great passion of tempera- 
ment, he feels a holy scorn for all who, not 
knowing the law, are " accursed." Publicans 
and sinners he despises, this " Pharisee, the son 
of a Pharisee," as he loves to call himself ; while, 
as for heretics, they should be exterminated as 
so many vermin! So the vindication of the 
honor of God by persecuting heretics, which was 
taught as an obligation on all Pharisees, seemed 
to this man to be a supreme duty. It is just 
possible that his frenzy was intensified by a dor- 
mant discontent with Pharisaism. Who knows 
but that this vehement denunciation of " extor- 
tioners, unjust, adulterers, and publicans," with 
the glib recital of his own contrasted virtues, 
— who knows but that it was the mere answer 
of the tongue to an inarticulate spiritual dissatis- 
faction? There may be good in the man, but 
it is latent, buried like the warm heart of a brook 
under a proud mountain. At present his pride 
covers everything. " After the most straitest 
sect of our religion I live a Pharisee," he boasts. 
" If any other man thinketh that he hath 
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : cir- 

24 



PAUL 

cumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, 
of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the He- 
brews; concerning zeal, persecuting; touching 
the righteousness which is in the law, blame- 
less !" Hear his proud boast, " Blameless !" 
Hear again his proud prayer, " I thank Thee 
that I am not as other men are." " For, if any 
other man thinketh that he hath whereof he 
might trust in the flesh, I more !" 

We see, then, that the name of this man is 
Saul. Well does Saul's character fit the descrip- 
tion of the Pharisee in our Lord's parable; al- 
though of course the resemblance is not by de- 
sign. Well might he have been standing there 
in the beautiful temple, shouting his prayer of 
thanksgiving that he is not as other men are. 

The Second Figure. — Now let us see the sec- 
ond picture. We need not change the scene; 
only let a few years pass by. Now let us look 
into the temple again. At first its spacious halls 
seem empty. But presently we can descry a dim 
figure in the dark corner yonder, which is 
scarcely to be made out at all, so completely has 
it enwrapped itself in the obscurity of humility. 
Drawing nearer, and our eyes becoming accus- 
tomed to the gloom, we perceive a man clad in 
coarse and common garments; a man whose 
body is wasted with sad adventure and with 
bufferings; his shoulders stooped; his eyes, if 

25 



SEED-TIME 



he would but lift them, showing a certain glazed 
dimness, as though they had once been blinded 
by a mighty light. Surely this is a man who has 
seen suffering. 

A by-stander tells us so. " Yes," says he, 
pointing, " that man standing there in the dark 
has worked labors abundant; has borne stripes 
above measure; has seen frequent imprison- 
ments, and has often stood face to face with 
death. Of the Jews five times he has received 
forty stripes save one. Thrice was he beaten 
with rods. Once was he stoned. Three times 
has he suffered shipwreck. A night and a day 
he has been in the deep. In journeyings often, 
in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils 
by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, 
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, 
in perils in the sea, in perils among false breth- 
ren! In weariness and painfulness, in watch- 
ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings 
often, in cold and nakedness; besides those 
things that are without, that which cometh upon 
him daily, the care of all the Christian 
churches !" 

But what is he doing here in the temple, this 
poor tent-maker, this Jew who has had such 
terrible experiences, this humble man with 
bowed head and downcast eyes? Behold, he 
is praying, too. See him smite himself on the 

26 



PAUL 

breast ! — " the hand goes where the pain is." 
His words are low and full of anguish, yet filled 
also with eager expectation. " God be merciful 
to me a sinner!" It is such a simple prayer. 
Only that, over and over again. " God be mer- 
ciful to me a sinner!" Nay, rather, in his own 
tongue his prayer is, " God be merciful to me 
the sinner," as though there were none other 
sinful besides. " Sinners," says he, " of whom 
I am chief." 

Saul becomes Paul. — And is this the man who 
once boasted that he was blameless? Can it 
be that they are the same? Yes, Saul has be- 
come Paul. That proud, strong man at whom 
we looked just now, he it is that we see here 
again : his name different, his pride vanquished, 
his arrogance and bitter hatred changed to that 
love which he calls the greatest thing in the 
world, his cherished zeal for the law turned 
into a zealous devotion to that miserable lawless 
sect he formerly had persecuted; his friends 
gone, his property gone, a man whose sanity 
is questioned, who is hooted at for an eccentric 
fool, an adventurer unwelcome wherever he 
goes, a poor outcast Jew. 

The Power of Christ. — And what has 
wrought this marvellous change? A single 
glimpse of Jesus! In the year 37 (?), shortly 

after the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul, the proud 

27 



SEED-TIME 



young Pharisee, was journeying in state from 
Jerusalem to Damascus; an authorized inquisi- 
tor, with a commission from the Sanhedrin, 
about to prove his zeal for the holy law by an 
extreme persecution of those who had presumed 
to preach, as above the law, a strange new thing 
called " gospel." Drawing near the gates, a 
very frenzy of religious hate possesses him. 
See him, like some mad charger, " breathing 
out threatening and slaughter," his fierce nos- 
trils quivering with the scent of blood! Then, 
suddenly, without warning, the ascended Son 
of God draws aside His veil of clouds, and 
shines His wondrous face, " the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father," full into the ma- 
lignant face of Saul, — a mighty light which sur- 
passed in brightness even the brightness of the 
Syrian sun at mid-day. And Saul beheld " the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." 

In the light of that face he lies prostrate and 
trembling; rising at last, a blind man, to be led 
helpless into the city, where for three days he 
remains without food or drink; until at length 
one of the men he would have killed comes to 
him, and in the name of Jesus gives him back 
his sight. Henceforth it is no longer Saul, but 
Paul ; a marvellous witness to the " power of 
the resurrection" of Him who, ascended to the 

28 



PAUL 

right hand of the Father, drew once aside the 
veil to convince His friends, through this foe, 
that to the glorious end it was even as He had 
told them. Thus, to His bitterest foe, the Son 
of Man revealed Himself, enthroned with re- 
sistless power in complete and majestic fulfil- 
ment of His highest claims. One flash of His 
face was enough to transform Saul into Paul. 

Paul, the Witness. — It is Paul, the witness; 
Paul, a mighty monument to the power of 
Christ, set at the entrance to the stream of Chris- 
tian history, his great outstretched arm holding 
aloft the torch of Christian liberty, bidding a 
welcome to every old-world slave of the law, 
giving eternal proof to the transforming power 
of the glorious Gospel of Light. 

2. PAUL, THE PLANTER 

The Witness is the Planter. — Not content to 

be a fixed monument to the power of Christ, 

the witness became also the planter. If one arm 

be stretched aloft with a light, the other was 

stretched forth to scatter seed. He was made 

a witness, " one who has seen," that he might 

become an apostle, " one who is sent." " I have 

appeared unto thee for this purpose," said the 

Lord to him by the road-side at Damascus, " to 

make thee a minister and a witness both of these 

things which thou hast seen, and of those things 

29 



SEED-TIME 



in the which I will appear unto thee." Because 
he had seen, he could the better sow. A su- 
preme certitude steadied and directed his hand. 
His feet were the feet of a racer who has caught 
a glimpse of the goal. He had felt the seed 
burst and blossom in his own heart, so he knew 
its power. He knew Whom he believed. There- 
fore, from the house of a certain Ananias of 
Damascus, down the street which is called 
Straight, " a sower went forth to sow," one day, 
who became the mightiest of all the planters 
of that seed which is the word of God. 

His missionary labors began immediately 
upon his conversion. No sooner had he been 
baptized, than straightway he began to preach 
in the synagogues of the city whither he had 
come to persecute. Imagine the amazement of 
the Pharisees, who had prepared a hearty 
welcome for their chief inquisitor, when they 
find him turned zealot himself! Imagine also 
the suspicious surprise of the Christians. He 
proved a very powerful preacher. All the les- 
sons learned at the feet of Gamaliel, all his rab- 
binical researches, all the varied intellectual 
stores of years, were turned now to the very 
best account in pressing home the teaching of 
Scripture concerning the promised Messiah. 
This was re-enforced by the enthusiasm of an 
earnest heart, long at struggle with itself, now 

30 



PAUL 

overjoyed to be released from the stringent 
bondage of the law. He " confounded the 
Jews," proving with multiplied proofs that " this 
is the very Christ." 

The World for Christ. — For a protracted sea- 
son he dwelt in Arabia, seeking there that soli- 
tude which ever seems the preparation of great 
men for their greatest tasks. Coming out at 
length from his retirement, he would fain begin 
his ministry in earnest. He had imperative er- 
rand for the whole wide world. Up to Damas- 
cus he travelled, his presence there so enraging 
the Jews that he was compelled to escape by 
stratagem, going thence to Jerusalem on his first 
visit since his conversion. No wonder the apos- 
tles gathered there at first suspected him! It 
was Barnabas who took his part, and won their 
confidence for this remarkable proselyte. After 
witnessing to the faith of the murdered Stephen 
in the very place where he had helped to slay him, 
he was forced to leave Jerusalem, as he had had 
to leave Damascus, but turned undaunted to his 
own native city of Tarsus, where he remained in 
comparative obscurity for several years. Yet 
we may be sure that he was never idle. To the 
learned pagan scholars there he came as one 
able to argue with them on their own ground. 
In the synagogue where he had worshipped as 
a devout and eager Pharisaic lad, this zealous 

31 



SEED-TIME 



proselyte would now proclaim that the hope of 
the Jews had been realized in the enemy of 
Pharisaism, Jesus the Nazarene. Finally, with 
holy impatience of building on other men's foun- 
dations, he gave glad heed to the call of the 
strong church at Antioch, through his friend 
Barnabas, and was sent out thence as the first 
and greatest foreign missionary. 

Paul's Adventures. — In this, his appointed 
work, no perils ever affrighted him, no disap- 
pointment discouraged him. He braved the 
dangers of mountain travel among the haunts 
of murderous brigands. He ventured in frail 
little ships upon the stormy seas, and, when 
cast ashore from shipwreck upon an island of 
strangers, straightway set about winning the 
populace to serve his Lord and Master. He 
might fail of his destination, but never of his 
purpose; wherever he found people he would 
preach. He preached to the sneering scholars 
of Athens with as great assurance of his mes- 
sage as when talking of the gospel with Aquila 
and Priscilla in their humble home at Corinth. 
Sometimes he would be welcomed with acclaim, 
only to be stoned next day. In Lystra the enthu- 
siastic heathen took him for their god Mercury, 
coming with oxen and with garlands to do wor- 
ship before him and Barnabas ; but the next day 
these foolish, fickle folk beat him and cast him 

32 



PAUL 

out of the city for dead. Sometimes he was the 
cause of violent riots, as when at Ephesus the 
mob yelled itself hoarse against him. Some- 
times he made even the lords of imperial Rome 
to tremble, as he reasoned of righteousness and 
temperance and the judgment to come. Truly, 
this little man " turned the world upside down." 
From the day of his conversion at Damascus 
there was never an hour when his one aim was 
not to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 
" This one thing I do," was his motto. 

Paul's Methods. — His mode of evangelization 
has been vividly described by Dr. Stalker. He 
and his companions would enter a town " as 
quietly and unnoticed as any two strangers who 
may walk into one of our towns any morning. 
Their first care was to get a lodging; and then 
they had to seek for employment, for they 
worked at their trade wherever they went. 
Nothing could be more commonplace. Who 
could dream that this travel-stained man, going 
from one tent-maker's door to another, seeking 
for work, was carrying the future of the world 
beneath his robe? When the Sabbath came 
round they would cease from toil, like the other 
Jews in the place, and repair to the synagogue. 
They joined in the psalms and prayers with the 
other worshippers and listened to the reading 
of the Scriptures. After this the presiding elder 
3 33 



SEED-TIME 



might ask if any one present had a word of 
exhortation to deliver. This was Paul's oppor- 
tunity. He would rise and, with outstretched 
hand, begin to speak. At once the audience rec- 
ognized the accents of the cultivated rabbi, and 
the strange voice won their attention. Taking 
up the passages which had been read, he would 
soon be moving forward on the stream of Jew- 
ish history, till he led up to the astounding an- 
nouncement that the Messiah hoped for by their 
fathers and promised by their prophets had 
come, and he had been sent among them as His 
apostle. Then would follow the story of Jesus : 
it was true, He had been rejected by the authori- 
ties of Jerusalem and crucified, but this could 
be shown to have taken place in accordance 
with prophecy; and His resurrection from the 
dead was an infallible proof that He had been 
sent of God; now He was exalted a Prince 
and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel 
and the remission of sins. We can easily im- 
agine the sensation produced by such a sermon 
from such a preacher, and the buzz of conversa- 
tion which would arise among the congregation 
after the dismission of the synagogue. During 
the week it would become the talk of the town ; 
and Paul was willing to converse at his work 
or in the leisure of the evening with any who 
might desire further information. Next Sab- 

34 



PAUL 

bath the synagogue would be crowded, not with 
Jews only, but Gentiles also, who were curious 
to see the strangers; and Paul now unfolded 
the secret that salvation by Jesus Christ was as 
free to Gentiles as to Jews. This was generally 
the signal for the Jews to contradict and blas- 
pheme; and, turning his back on them, Paul 
addressed himself to the Gentiles. But mean- 
time the fanaticism of the Jews was aroused, 
and they either stirred up the mob or secured the 
interest of the authorities against the strangers ; 
and in a storm of popular tumult or by the 
breath of authority the messengers of the gos- 
pel were swept out of the town." 

Results. — But the seeds of truth had been 
planted, and a little Christian congregation 
would result. Often Paul would visit these in- 
fant churches again, confirming them in the 
faith, and assisting, with his wonderful execu- 
tive ability, in the affairs of organization. Dur- 
ing the fifteen years of his evangelizing labors, 
he travelled thousands of miles, by land and sea, 
preaching to myriads of people and establishing 
numerous congregations. Far and wide did this 
wonderful planter fling the gospel seed. Wher- 
ever his lot was cast, or wherever his mission 
called him, there did he go, joyfully sowing the 
word of God. No life was ever more crowded 
with labor, miraculous in its multiplicity; no 

35 



SEED-TIME 



life was ever more wholly concentrated in its 
consecration to the one thing. Nor has any- 
other human life so impressed itself on the ages 
that were yet to be. To this day Paul is the in- 
spired and constant planter of the truth. Whose 
words come now to strengthen the faint-hearted, 
turning their sorrow into gladness, when they 
hear, in wonderful paradox, that " His strength 
is made perfect in weakness" ? Who comes with 
a god-like scorn for the trials of earth, lifting 
mourners on the wings of eagles with his reck- 
oning that " the sufferings of this present time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us" ? Who untangles 
the skeins of perplexity that sometimes fall into 
our hands, with his strong assurance that " all 
things work together for good to them that love 
God" ? " If God be for us," he cries, trium- 
phantly, " who can be against us ?" What a 
crown the Lord hath given him ! Thirteen out 
of the twenty-seven books of the New Testa- 
ment written by this man, who was God's pen! 
His faith to-day is the faith of millions; his 
sway far greater than that of any other " dead 
but scept'red sovereign," as he rules us from 
his place beside Him concerning Whom he said, 
" If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign 
with Him." A little while ago he was friend- 
less ; now he is friend to the King of kings. A 

36 



PAUL 

little while ago he was poverty stricken; now 
he is joint heir with Christ of all the riches of 
the Father. Then he had no position; now his 
place is one that angels might envy. Then his 
sanity was questioned ; now he is wise with the 
wisdom of one who sees face to face. Then 
he was a fool for Christ's sake; now the plau- 
dits of all Christendom are his. He was a 
wanderer and an outcast; but now he has a 
home, and his home is the home of God. He 
that sowed in tears is partaker of the first fruits 
in the heavenly kingdom of his Master. 

3. THE SOIL, THE SEASON, AND THE 
WATERING 
Paul a Type. — This was the age of the plant- 
ing of the church. Paul was but the chief in 
a great army of planters, whose activities dur- 
ing the first, second, and third centuries are well 
typified by his own. Like him, they were wit- 
nesses. The word " martyr" means a witness. 
And like him, they diffused the truth both by 
preaching and with their pens. The epistles of 
Peter and James and John were written for the 
strengthening of the infant churches scattered 
throughout the world. So the successors of the 
apostles, such as Ignatius, Polycarp, Papias, and 
Justin, were mighty, both in deed and in word, 
as planters. All had to deal, too, with the same 

37 



SEED-TIME 



conditions that confronted Paul. Let us see 
what those conditions were. 

(a) A Rotten Soil. — What of the soil where- 
on Paul, the planter, flung his seed ? It was rot- 
ten soil, forsooth. Scepticism had brought with 
it a contempt for the older moralities, and a de- 
spair which led to the most reckless excesses 
of shame. At one time the Romans had gloried 
in their virtue; now their glory is in their 
shame. Never has the human race sunk to 
lower depths of infamy than during the reign 
of the Caesars. The characteristics of Roman 
civilization under the empire may, as Dean Far- 
rar says, be summed in the two phrases, heart- 
less cruelty and unfathomable corruption. Nero 
was Paul's emperor. He murdered for the pure 
love of murder. Having regard for no being 
on earth or in heaven except himself, he called 
himself divine, and ordained that homage should 
be done to him as to a god. Gibbon says that 
he was at once a priest, an atheist, and a god. 
Too cowardly at the last to live, he proved also 
to be too cowardly to die, whining for a slave's 
hand to press home the dagger which his own 
was to weak to drive. And yet the tutor of 
this monster had been the great moralist, Sen- 
eca, supreme product of Roman culture, who 
nevertheless connived at some of his master's 
basest crimes! Plato had, indeed, been great 

38 



PAUL 

enough to foresee that a mere philosophy would 
be powerless to regenerate society. In his dis- 
course on laws he had declared that three forces 
would be necessary to effect a reformation, — 
first, piety, or love to a divine Person ; secondly, 
the desire for honor, or for the respect of the 
good ; and finally, the love of moral beauty, in- 
stead of physical beauty alone, which was a pas- 
sion with the Greeks and Romans. But, alas! 
even in Plato's time, conditions were so terrible 
that the great seer despaired of the realization 
of these ideals; and by Paul's time the state 
of society was tenfold worse. 

No description more graphic than his own 
can be given of Roman society as he found it. 
After delicate allusion to nameless sins, he 
sweeps the whole gamut of crime in an at- 
tempt to characterize the Romans, who, he says, 
were filled with all unrighteousness, — fornica- 
tion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, 
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; being 
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despite- 
ful, proud, boastful, inventors of evil things, 
disobedient to parents, without understanding, 
covenant-breakers, without natural affection, 
implacable, unmerciful ; " who, knowing the 
judgment of God, that they which commit such 
things are worthy of death, not only do the 
same, but have pleasure in them that do them !" 

39 



SEED-TIME 



To such a people did Paul come preaching; 
and it is surely a significant fact that precisely 
the three regenerative forces for which Plato 
had sighed were offered in the gospel that he 
preached. First, a Divine Person was upheld 
for the love of mankind, transcending the fair- 
est ideals whereof the brightest of the Greeks 
had dreamed. Next, because this Person was 
the supreme embodiment of goodness, and be- 
cause devotion to Him means a striving to be 
like Him, Paul's preaching offered to every man 
who would strive to follow Christ the honor and 
respect of all his fellow-followers. Finally, by 
an ethical teaching of unequalled beauty, it filled 
the mind with thoughts of the things that are 
pure and lovely and of good report. Thus the 
three forces for which the great Greek longed 
were supplied, and far more than supplied, by 
the gospel of St. Paul; the Providence of 
Heaven fulfilling the need of the world; and 
it now remains to be seen whether they will, as 
Plato predicted, suffice for the regeneration of 
society. 

(b) A Ready Season. — If the soil was bad, 
yet the season was undoubtedly good. It was 
a time when the intellectual world was very 
ready for " some new thing." Plato and his 
fellows had helped to make it so. The Romans, 
indeed, had completed a physical conquest of 

40 



PAUL 

the Greeks, but Greece still remained the intel- 
lectual mistress of the world. The Grecian 
lands were Romanized, but the Roman people 
were Hellenized. And the natural result of this 
was a strong discontent, among the thoughtful 
Romans, with their old childish religions. No 
earnest man could read the discourses of Aris- 
totle concerning practical morality without dis- 
gust for the immoralities practised in the name 
of Roman religion. No aspiring man could 
learn the wonderful notions of Plato about the 
immortality of the soul and stay content with the 
old blind order of things. None could hearken 
to the sublime theology of Socrates and remain 
a sincere worshipper of sensual human gods. 
Hear him, speaking to his friend : " Then shalt 
thou understand, my Aristodemus, that there 
is a Being whose eye pierceth throughout all 
nature, and whose ear is open to every sound; 
extended to every place, extending throughout all 
time ; whose bounty and care can know no other 
bound save those fixed by His own creation!" 
After such a reach towards heaven as that, how 
could the earnest and cultured pagan longer ac- 
cept as his Bible an Iliad, an Odyssey, or an 
^Eneid, with their petty fables of gods many, 
gods men? And yet no one was found able 
to complete what the giants had suggested. 
Having once felt their touch, humanity was like 

41 



SEED-TIME 



some pitiful Undine, unable either to return into 
the childish rest of the past, or to live tranquilly 
in the dim dawn of better days. The world was 
perplexed and bewildered. So it was that by 
the time of St. Paul the intellectual pagans had 
divided into the two opposed camps of Stoic 
and Epicurean. Each denied what the other 
maintained. And yet each had a real share in 
shaping the minds of men to receive two of the 
great seed-thoughts of St. Paul, — namely, fra- 
ternity and charity, — the Stoics by inculcating a 
common human brotherhood as against the old 
exclusiveness which called all outsiders " barba- 
rians;" and the Epicureans by teaching that it 
is better to confer a benefit than to receive one, 
thus anticipating Paul's Christian word, " It is 
more blessed to give than to receive." Indeed, 
the very opposition of these rival philosophies 
produced a paradoxical sort of preparation for 
the planting of St. Paul. For Greek philosophy, 
as we have seen, had destroyed the old religions. 
And now, men reasoned, since philosophy de- 
stroys itself, we know nothing that is true. O 
that some Higher One would come to seize and 
continue those " upward-soaring trains of 
thought" which the giants originated, but none 
can complete! And so, in this wise, as Rudolf 
Sohm has eloquently suggested, the world's de- 
sire went forth to meet the world's Saviour. 

42 



PAUL 

But the Romans, as well as the Greeks, had 
aided in making the season ready for the gos- 
pel. They had made it possible for Paul to sow 
in one great field, instead of in many separated 
fields. The unity of the empire was of immense 
advantage to him and to the other planters. A 
common law protected them. A universal lan- 
guage made their preaching understood in every 
province. The radiating highways of a great 
centralized commerce bore them into many re- 
gions with safety and despatch. Thus man's 
progress, again, had been God's preparation. 
" The fulness of time was come." And as the 
final step in this great work of making ready, 
the Jews had been dispersed in every commu- 
nity, leavening the pagan mind with that teach- 
ing of the Old Testament law which is " a 
school-master to lead men to Christ." 

Rome was the centre of this great prepared 
world. And so Paul cried, eagerly, " I must 
see Rome!" His master mind discerned that 
if the gospel were to become a world-fact, it 
must find lodgement in the prepared heart of 
the one world-power. He himself earnestly be- 
lieved that now the fulness of time was come, 
when to the wise Greek, the just Roman, and 
the religious Jew, united under one vast empire, 
should be preached redemption through the 
blood of Jesus, who maketh many one (see I 

43 



SEED-TIME 



Cor. i. 30). As we consider all the circum- 
stances that met him in his work, we see, with 
Schiller, that facts are indeed the finger of God ; 
that Jehovah, who ordereth the seasons, had 
prepared the world's seasons for the sowing of 
His seed. 

(c) The Deluge of Blood. — And now He is 
about to mingle with the seed of the word a 
new seed, showered broadcast in a crimson 
flood, which, under the mysterious laws of the 
divine chemistry, shall fertilize the barren earth 
for better receiving that seed which is the word 
of God. The time of the sowing of blood is 
come. Tertullian, who experienced the woes 
of this terrible time, was wise enough to see that 
God would cause the wrath of man to praise 
Him, and predicted that the blood of the mar- 
tyrs would become the seed of the church. 

Christ had distinctly foretold persecutions. 
" If the world hate you," He said to the disci- 
ples, " ye know that it hated Me before it hated 
you." His sufferings were to be a prelude to 
their sufferings. " Remember," He continued, 
with frank foreboding, " the servant is not 
greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted 
Me, they will also persecute you." 

Paul's Death. — Scarcely had He Himself been 
crucified, when these words began to be ful- 
filled. Stephen was the first to suffer martyr- 

44 



PAUL 

dom, in Jerusalem. His fate eventually became 
the fate of all the apostles, save only John. That 
was a striking scene when Paul stood before 
Nero at Rome, — " the best man in the world 
before the worst man in the world/' — and it 
was the hour of the power of darkness. On that 
splendid throne sat a great bloated beast, his 
lip heavy with the thirst for blood, his eye dull 
with a ceaseless madness against the good, the 
true, and the beautiful. Here, before him, 
chained and helpless, stands a white-haired man ; 
one of the best, the truest, the most beautiful 
characters this world has ever seen. The huge 
beast leers, and gloats with satisfaction over 
his prey. The little eyes transfix Paul as a ser- 
pent's eyes a dove. Then, lazily, leisurely, vo- 
luptuously, the swollen tongue rolls out the 
choice morsel of a word that calls for death, 
and Paul's heart fairly leaps with the thought, 
" To die is gain !" The soldiers lead him away, 
a rabble at his heels. " The headsman's sword 
gleamed in the sun and fell; and the head of 
the apostle of the world rolled down into the 
dust." 

So, in his death he was still a planter, leaving 
to Rome the precious legacy of his blood. If 
the blood of the martyrs is to be the seed of 
the church, what mighty harvest may we not 
expect, since the dust of the world's chief city 

45 



SEED-TIME 



is clotted with the blood of the world's chief 
martyr ? 

The death of Paul did, indeed, seem to mark 
the transition of Christianity from Jerusalem to 
Rome. The first national influence that had 
given to the church its human mould may be 
said to have ended with him; henceforth this 
influence is to be no longer predominantly Jew- 
ish, but, for a protracted period, Grseco-Roman. 
Therefore we see an aptness in the otherwise 
puzzling fact that the book of the Acts closes 
with the simple statement of Paul's arrival in 
Rome. When this great Jew had planted the 
gospel in the heart of the imperial Roman city, 
the Jew's work was ended. Within a few years 
of the death of Paul Jerusalem itself succumbed 
to Rome, after the bloodiest siege in history. 
The glory of the Jew had perished, and with 
it the earthly anchorage of the little church. 
Christianity, cut loose from its Jewish moor- 
ings, was left to drift on the mighty stream of 
history, only a few feeble folk seeking refuge 
in it as the ark of heavenly safety from the 
tempests of that most stormy age, the age of 
Nero. Earthly safety there was none. Their 
eyes were turned towards the stars, as their lit- 
tle ark drifted upon a stream of blood. 

Nero. — Nero's lust for blood was by no means 
satiated with a single Christian murder. He 

46 



PAUL 

was a wholesale butcher; and the Christians 
seemed made ready to his hand. They proved 
especially convenient when his own person was 
endangered through his insane burning of his 
own imperial city, which he desired to rebuild 
and call Neropolis, after he should have wit- 
nessed the superb spectacle of the fire! Find- 
ing that he had overstepped himself with the 
enraged populace, he looked about him for a 
scapegoat, whereon he might saddle his own 
atrocious crime. Some demon near the throne 
whispered into the royal ear, " Persecute the 
Christians !" Nero seized eagerly upon this inge- 
nious suggestion. The members of the ignoble 
sect were already despised, for the austerity of 
their simple lives, and for the fearless frankness 
of their moral teachings. Moreover, the popular 
mind confused them with the always hated Jews, 
and believed, too, that those frequent Christian 
meetings could bode no public good. In short, 
the Christians were an unsociable, unpopular lot. 
What could be easier than to charge them with 
the crime of the fire, and make them pay the 
penalty ? 

The scheme succeeded only too well. How 
well, we will let the contemporary Roman his- 
torian, the pagan Tacitus, tell in his own words : 

" In order to get rid of this report, Nero 
trumped up an accusation against a sect, de- 

47 



SEED-TIME 



tested for their atrocities, whom the common 
people called Christians, and tortured them with 
the most exquisite penalties. Christus, the 
founder of this sect, had been put to death, 
during the reign of Tiberius, by the procurator 
Pontius Pilate. But the abominable supersti- 
tion, repressed for a season, was again break- 
ing out, not only through Judea, where the evil 
had originated, but even throughout the city, 
whither from every quarter all things atrocious 
or shameful are drifted together and >*in a fol- 
lowing. Therefore, those were first arrested 
who confessed their religion, and then, on their 
evidence, a vast multitude were condemned, not 
so much on the charge of arson, as for their 
contempt towards the human race. Various 
forms of mockery were devised to enhance their 
dying agonies. Covered with the skins of wild 
animals, they were doomed to die by the man- 
gling of dogs, or by being nailed to crosses ; or 
to be set on fire and burnt after twilight, by 
way of lighting the darkness. Nero offered his 
own park for this spectacle, and gave a chariot- 
race, mingling with the rabble in the dress of a 
charioteer, or actually driving about among 
them." 

Dean Farrar adds: "Imagine that awful 
scene, once witnessed by the silent obelisk in 
the square before St. Peter's at Rome! There, 

48 



PAUL 

where the vast dome now rises, were once the 
gardens of Nero. They were thronged with gay- 
crowds, among whom the emperor moved in 
his frivolous degradation — and on every side 
were men dying slowly on their cross of shame. 
Along the paths of those gardens on the autumn 
nights were ghastly torches, blackening the 
ground beneath them with streams of sulphur- 
ous pitch, and each of those living torches was 
a martyr in his shirt of fire. And in the amphi- 
theatre hard by famished dogs were tearing to 
pieces some of the best and purest of men and 
women, hideously disguised in the skins of bears 
or wolves. Thus did Nero baptize in the blood 
of the martyrs the city which was to be for ages 
the capital of the world !" 

But the persecution under Nero was only the 
beginning of Christian martyrdom. When bet- 
ter men sat on the throne the Christians were 
still hunted and hounded and slain. The perse- 
cution of Nero, indeed, while extremely cruel, 
was only local, and entirely incidental; the 
Christianity of the victims being not the cause, 
but merely the occasion, of their martyrdom. 

Trajan. — Not until forty years after Nero's 
death were Christians recognized as forming a 
distinct society, and made legally liable to specific 
persecution, on the ground either of impiety or of 
opposition to the public good. This was during 
4 49 



SEED-TIME 



the reign of the emperor Trajan, under whom 
the noble Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was put 
to death; and it is indeed narrated that on one 
occasion, as a result of Trajan's law, no less 
than ten thousand believers perished by wild 
beasts in a single day. Under this same law 
Christians were regarded for more than three 
centuries as enemies of the public weal. Here 
and there some distinguished " father" marks 
the progress of the march of blood — as Poly- 
carp, the aged bishop of Smyrna (under An- 
toninus Pius, in the year 155), who answered 
the temptation of his inquisitors with the beau- 
tiful words, " Eighty and six years have I served 
Him, and He hath never done me any wrong; 
how then can I blaspheme my King, who is also 
my Saviour?" No less a moralist than the Em- 
peror Marcus Aurelius authorized a persecution 
in Southern Gaul, which claimed almost count- 
less victims (a.d. 177). Under Septimius Sev- 
erus conversion to the new religion was for- 
bidden by law (202), and as a result many 
Christians were tortured to death in Egypt and 
in the Latin province of Africa. 

Decius, Gallus, Valerian. — Thus the laws 
grew ever stricter. But it was not until the 
year 250 that the state came to recognize Chris- 
tianity as a really formidable power, against 
which, for the first time, a general and continu- 

50 



PAUL 

ous persecution was therefore ordered. Hith- 
erto the persecutions could be brought only 
under some specific charge. But now, under 
Decius, Gallus, and Valerian, is waged a terrific 
general struggle between Christianity and the 
secular authority. Throughout the empire the 
officials were commanded to seize the entire body 
of Christians and compel them to offer sacrifices 
to the pagan deities, including the deified em- 
peror himself. The attack was now thoroughly 
systematized. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, Fa- 
bian of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alex- 
ander of Jerusalem, were among the numberless 
martyrs of these ten bloody years, while the 
great Greek father, Origen, was at least im- 
prisoned. 

This persecution was succeeded by forty years 
of peace, while the state rested from the struggle, 
hoping that its murderous work was done. But 
" the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 
church," — such is one of the mystical, mysteri- 
ous laws of the growth of the kingdom. Euse- 
bius tells us that during this period " great 
multitudes flocked to the religion of Christ." 

Therefore the state gathered its forces, under 
Diocletian and Galerius, for one supreme and 
crushing onslaught, from which there could be 
no possibility of escape or recuperation. The 
cross had become a hideous nightmare to the 

5i 



SEED-TIME 



Roman crown. Behold, here is an increasing 
multitude of fanatics, in all parts of the empire, 
who persistently reject the watchword of the 
state, " We have no king but Caesar I" It is 
bald treason. They are rebels, a menace to the 
safety of the empire, and must be crushed as 
vermin. Moreover, the imperious arm of the 
government has hitherto proved notably power- 
less against them. The national prestige is in- 
volved. Shall the world be allowed to think 
that Rome, the mistress of the world, with her 
ever invincible legions, is unable to crush a mis- 
erable sedition like this of the followers of that 
despised, crucified Jew? Shall one who was 
outcast by the Jews themselves, being unutter- 
ably shamed by the ignominious death of the 
cross — shall such a one, a dead Jew, a crucified 
Jew, hold in the hearts of Roman subjects a 
higher place than the divine Caesar? The 
thought is intolerable. The time has come for 
deadly, irrecoverable action. At all costs, the 
pest must be exterminated. Both the safety and 
the honor of the state demand it. 

Diocletian and Galerius. — Therefore, after 
forty years of peace, the old battle was reopened, 
without warning, on the 23d day of February, 
303, by the destruction of the Nicomedian Chris- 
tian church. The next day imperial edicts were 
issued, ordering that all Christian officials, mili- 

52 



PAUL 

tary or civil, be retired from their posts; that 
all the churches and the so-called sacred books 
be destroyed, and that the clergy should be im- 
prisoned. The following year another edict 
commanded that all Christians offer pagan sac- 
rifices, under pain of instant and terrible death. 
With frightful earnestness these violent orders 
were enforced. There were eight years of " in- 
sane butchery." The dungeons were choked 
with inmates, while the slaughter machines were 
kept well oiled with blood. It is said that in 
numerous towns the streets were " literally 
blocked up with the stakes and scaffolds where 
death was dealt alike to men and women and 
little children." Believers were dragged at the 
heels of wild horses, or laid upon red-hot grid- 
irons, or sawn asunder, or left in dungeons to 
rot. The skin was pulled from their flesh piece 
by piece. " The bears hugged them to death, 
the lions tore them to pieces, the wild bulls 
tossed them upon their horns." The whole Ro- 
man world was soaked with the blood of the 
martyrs. The words of the Epistle to the He- 
brews, though written of a former age, well 
describe the martyrdoms under Diocletian and 
Galerius. For then there were found many to 
be " tortured, not accepting deliverance ; that 
they might obtain a better resurrection: and 
others had trial of cruel mockings and scourg- 

53 



SEED-TIME 



ing, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. 
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were 
tempted, were slain with the sword : they wan- 
dered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being 
destitute, afflicted, and tormented ; of whom the 
world was not worthy: they wandered in des- 
erts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves 
of the earth." 

The State conquers. — At last, at last, the Ro- 
man State believed that the battle was ended, 
and that the ever-victorious armies had suc- 
ceeded against yet one more foe, — the least de- 
structive, but most indestructible, that ever the 
legionaries had had to face. So many Chris- 
tians had been slain, there could surely be none 
left. The sect had been exterminated, its books 
burnt, its property all destroyed or confiscated, 
Rome could now rest in final triumph. There- 
fore the salaried butchers washed the red stains 
from their weary arms and made ready for the 
festivals of a victorious peace. A memorial 
medal was ordered to be struck, bearing on one 
side the words, " The Christian religion is de- 
stroyed and the worship of the gods restored!" 
In Spain two monumental pillars were erected 
in honor of Diocletian, " for having everywhere 
abolished the superstition of Christ, and for 
having extended the worship of the gods." 

The battle was over. 

54 



PAUL 

And yet — it is whispered that the wife of 
Diocletian and the wife of Galerius are them- 
selves Christians! History tells us, moreover, 
that Diocletian at last died in a manner that was 
interpreted as a fearful judgment of God; and 
that Galerius, while breathing his last in un- 
utterable misery, actually surrendered all for 
which he had fought so long and bitterly, by 
the issue of an edict of Christian toleration. 
Nor can we forget those haunting, mystical 
words of Tertullian, when he said that " the 
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the king- 
dom." We have witnessed the planting; what 
shall the harvest be ? 



55 



II 

THE MAGIC BLADE 

CONSTANTINE 



i. A MIRACLE OF GROWTH 

The successor of Diocletian and Galerius was 
Constantine. 

Is there in all history a more stupendous fact 
than this ? Think of what it means ! A Jewish 
peasant, bearing the common name of Jesus, had 
spent three years of his life in such a way as 
to make even his own family say that he was 
" beside himself." Deserted at the last even by 
his own chosen twelve, one of them delivered 
him into the hands of Roman soldiers, who 
mocked him, scourged him, slapped him, and 
spat in his face. His boasted crown turned out 
to be but a crown of thorns, plaited by the coarse 
thick fingers of some Roman guardsman. For 
his sceptre, they put a reed into his hand. Then 
they knelt, with mocking laughter, and hailed 
him as a king. Silent, pale, helpless, he could - 
not save himself. The climax of failure and of 
shame was reached in the mode of his death, — 
one reserved for only the most degraded and 
debased. Yes, the Roman soldiers crucified him, 
and speared him, and at the foot of his cross 
raffled away his garments. So died he : in per- 
fect loneliness, utter defeat, and profoundest 
shamefulness. Yet, because of a rumor that 

59 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



was spread abroad shortly after his death, people 
began to believe in him again, and a sect sprang 
up. This sect gained a following at last in 
Rome; because as the citizen Tacitus bitterly 
says, everything worthless and vile drifted to 
the capital. Nero burnt these fanatics. Trajan 
outlawed them. The gentle Aurelius did not 
scruple to murder them. Decius slew them 
wholesale. Diocletian and Galerius sought them 
out man by man, woman by woman, child by 
child, determined that not one of the vermin 
should remain to corrupt the Roman state. 
Then, after two hundred and fifty years of this 
fierce and bloody work, the state rested in weary 
satisfaction and celebrated its victory. 

But the next emperor is a Christian. He takes 
the eagles from his standards, and replaces them 
with crosses ; the badge of shame becomes a sign 
of glory. He bids his Roman soldiers fight in 
the name of the crucified Jew. Roman soldiers 
bow the knee to Him whom Roman soldiers 
scourged. Again do they put a crown upon His 
head and a sceptre in His hand, but not in scorn. 
Jesus is their King, above Caesar. Galilee has 
conquered Rome. The empire becomes Chris- 
tian by imperial decree. Christians, no longer 
wandering about in deserts or dwelling in the 
caves of the earth, drive in gilded chariots of 
state, becoming the most honored officers of the 

60 



CONSTANTINE 



empire. They have exchanged their goat-skins 
for brocade, the purple of mourning for the 
purple of rule. The poor are rich, the debased 
are exalted, the vanquished are the victors. 
" Constantine, the Defender," succeeds " Gale- 
rius, the Butcher." The blood of the martyrs 
has become the seed of the church. Enough 
blood had been sown as seed. 

The Magic Blade. — We see now the mighty 
blade spring up as swiftly as those plants which, 
at a magician's touch, grow from seed to fruit 
before our wondering eyes. " So is the king- 
dom of God, as if a man should cast seed into 
the ground; and the seed should spring and 
grow up, he knoweth not how, — first the blade." 
Each drop of blood was a seed of faith, like to 
a grain of mustard-seed; and now is sprung up 
a mighty blade under the shadow of which the 
vast Roman empire finds its refuge. 

Secret Fruit. — Of startling suddenness seems 
the change from Galerius to Constantine, and 
yet this change had been long preparing. It 
seems the more sudden because hitherto the 
Christians had been compelled to hide their 
heads, or else lose them, and hence their real 
strength could not be known. For a long time 
there had been thousands of secret disciples. 
Acte, a woman of Nero's own household, is 
thought to have been such, while we have already 

61 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



seen that even the wives of Diocletian and Gale- 
rius were suspected of strong sympathy with 
the Christian faith ; and it is clear that Constan- 
tius Chlorus, who became co-regent with Gale- 
rius after the death of Diocletian, was distinctly 
opposed to the intolerant attitude of his asso- 
ciate. 

Constantius and Helena. — This soldier-em- 
peror, Constantius the Pale, had yielded in his 
youth to ardent love for the humble daughter 
of a taverner. Her name was Helena. Her 
character, by all accounts, corresponded with the 
wonderful beauty of her person. As SchafY 
says, it is by no means unlikely that Theodoret 
is right, and that this fortunate tavern girl, who 
became empress, was from early life a devout 
follower of " The Way." This would account 
for the tolerant spirit of her husband, and for 
the eventual conversion of their only son, Con- 
stantine the Great. 

Their Son. — He was born in the year 272, 
possibly in Britain. We know but little of his 
early life. Like his father, he became a soldier, 
distinguishing himself under Diocletian in an 
expedition against Egypt, as also under Galerius 
in the Persian war. He possessed all the quali- 
ties that make an officer popular among his sol- 
diers. It did not matter to them that he was 
illiterate and vain; his ambition was, indeed, 

62 



CONSTANTINE 



with them a strong point in his favor. He was 
a powerful, broad-shouldered youth, of an 
Apollo-like beauty, with courteous manners, and 
a good-natured jest ready always to keep his 
men in good humor. He was industrious, shirk- 
ing none of the severe duties of the stern Roman 
discipline; he was true to his friends in their 
times of greatest need; he was generous, and, 
above all, he was brave. What more could sol- 
diers ask for the making of a hero ? 

Constantine becomes Emperor. — It is no 
wonder, then, that when Constantius Chlorus 
died at York, England, in the year 306, the all- 
powerful soldiers immediately chose his son as 
his successor. Naturally, this did not please 
Galerius, who had long been jealous of the grow- 
ing popularity of the handsome and brave young 
prince. But Galerius, in view of the divided 
condition of the empire, could hardly venture 
to oppose the soldiers' choice openly. He did 
manage, however, to divide the divided ruler- 
ship still further, by elevating two of his favor- 
ites to share the throne with himself. So Gale- 
rius and his two friends ruled as " emperors'' 
of the East, while Constantine had two other 
rivals in the West. 

His Divided Empire. — Such was the pitiable 
plight of the once united empire when the sol- 
diers set the crown upon the head of Constan- 

63 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



tine, at the ancient town of York, in Britain. 
Ascending the throne, the young prince found 
his empire cut in twain, and, what was worse, 
in each half there were three emperors! But 
his ambition immediately set itself for conquest 
and for a unification of the realm under one 
sole ruler, to be none other than Constantine 
himself. 

Chance — or was it Providence? — assisted 
him. It was not long before one of his own 
rivals in the West was put to death, as the re- 
sult of a conspiracy with which Constantine had 
nothing to do. And this was shortly followed 
by the death of Galerius himself, in the East, 
yet not before he had yielded to the influence 
of Constantine in signing a joint edict of gen- 
eral toleration in all matters appertaining to 
religion. Constantine was now left with but 
three rivals, — Licinius, who had become his ally, 
and the two opposing emperors, Maxentius and 
Maximin. 

His Religion. — Up to this time (the year 312) 
Constantine had been nothing more than a tol- 
erant pagan. So late as the year 308 we find him 
doing service to the sun-god Apollo, by the pres- 
entation of princely offerings.* Superstitious 



* " The same tenacious adherence to the ancient god 
of light has left its trace, even to our own time, on one 

64 



CONSTANTINE 



and selfish, he would not slight the pagan deities. 
Doubtless the same unworthy motive prompted 
his favorable attitude towards Christianity, as 
manifested in his dealings with Galerius. He 
wanted to be on the good side of all the gods. 
He could not forget, in particular, that his pro- 
Christian father had prospered, whereas the per- 
secutors had met with misfortune. Eusebius re- 
ports him as saying, " My father revered the 
Christian God and uniformly prospered, while 
the emperors who worshipped the heathen gods 
died a miserable death. Therefore, that I may 
enjoy a happy life and reign, I will imitate the 
example of my father, and join myself to the 
cause of the Christians, who are increasing daily, 
while the heathen are diminishing." 

Such was his " religious" attitude when the 
moment of his life arrived. Maxentius, who, 



of the most sacred and universal of Christian institu- 
tions. The retention of the old pagan name of 'Dies 
Solis,' or ' Sunday,' for the weekly Christian festival 
is, in great measure, owing to the union of pagan and 
Christian sentiment with which the first day of the 
week was recommended to his [Constantine's] subjects, 
pagan and Christian alike, as the 'venerable day of the 
sun.' His decree, regulating its observance, has been 
justly called ' a new era in the history of the Lord's 
day.' It was his mode of harmonizing the discordant 
religions of the empire under one common institution. ,, 
— Stanley. 

5 6 5 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



with Maximin, ruled Italy and Africa, was a 
cruel and vicious tyrant, hated by heathen and 
Christian alike. So the Roman people, finally 
unwilling to tolerate any longer this brutal rule, 
invited the powerful and popular Constantine to 
come over from Gaul and relieve them. Noth- 
ing loath, the man of the hour struck hands with 
his associate Licinius, and in the year 312 
marched with a little army against the tyrant 
of the Tiber, charging his colleague to look after 
Maximin. And this brings us, at last, to a cer- 
tain October day which proved to be a turning- 
point in the history of the world. We will let 
Eusebius tell, in his own words, of the most 
romantic and dramatic event in the history of 
the church since the days of the apostles them- 
selves. 

The Day of the Fiery Cross. — As Constan- 
tine, with his small army, approached the legion- 
aries of Maxentius, he heard that the tyrant was 
resorting to extraordinary measures in order to 
secure the favor of the heathen gods. There- 
fore, reflecting once more on the fortunes of his 
father, and " being convinced that he needed 
some more powerful aid than his military forces 
could afford him, — on account of the wicked and 
magical enchantments which were so diligently 
practised by the tyrant, — he began to seek for 
divine assistance. While he was praying with 

66 



CONSTANTINE 



fervent entreaty, a most marvellous sign ap- 
peared to him from heaven, the account of which 
it might have been difficult to receive with credit, 
had it been related by any other person. But 
since the victorious emperor himself long after- 
wards declared it to the writer of this history, 
when I was honored with his acquaintance and 
society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, 
who could hesitate to credit the narration, espe- 
cially since the testimony of succeeding years 
has established its truth? He said that at mid- 
day, when the sun had just passed the zenith, he 
saw, with his own eyes, the trophy of a cross of 
light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing 
the inscription, ' By this conquer !' At the sight 
he himself was struck with amazement, and his 
whole army also, which happened to be follow- 
ing him on his expedition, and so witnessed the 
miracle. He said, moreover, that he wondered 
within himself what the meaning of this appari- 
tion could be. While he continued to ponder 
and reason on its import, night imperceptibly 
drew on; and in his sleep the Christ of God 
appeared to him with the same sign which he 
had seen in the heavens, and commanded him 
to procure a standard made in the likeness of 
that sign, and to use it in all engagements with 
his enemies." 

We know not how to explain this wonderful 

67 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



story. That it has some sort of genuine his- 
torical foundation is equally evident with the 
secular proof for the somewhat similar con- 
version of St. Paul. That is, the sudden and 
remarkable results produced in the two cases 
certainly call for some sudden and remarkable 
cause. It has been suggested that Constantine, 
anxious over the outcome of the great battle he 
was about to fight, and filled with reminiscences 
of his father's experience, saw this fiery cross in 
a dream — for Eusebius, unfortunately, is not en- 
tirely reliable. Or, it is entirely possible that 
what the emperor saw w r as a part of a system of 
solar halos, two of which, at right angles, would 
form a cross. The Encyclopaedia Britannica re- 
cords that at Brighton, England, on the ist of 
April, 1852, just as the sun was setting, a ray of 
brilliant light shot upward above the horizon, 
directly perpendicular to the sun, and that soon 
after its appearance it was crossed by another 
band of light, thus forming a perfect cross, 
which was visible for half an hour. Or the event 
may, indeed, have been an actual miracle, like 
that mighty light at noonday which blinded Saul 
by the road-side at Damascus. Whatever the ex- 
planation of the fiery cross, we doubt not that it 
was an agency employed by Divine Providence 
to control a remarkable turning-point in human 
history. Explain the apparition as we may, the 

68 



CONSTANTINE 



fact remains that Constantine undoubtedly be- 
lieved he had seen a heavenly vision, and that to 
this heavenly vision he was not disobedient. He 
wrote the initials of Christ's name on the shields 
of his soldiers, and marked the cross upon their 
helmets. The eagles were removed from the 
summits of the Roman standards, giving place 
to the gallows of the Jew. The new labarum, 
according to Eusebius, " consisted of a long 
spear overlaid with gold, and a crosspiece of 
wood, from which hung a square flag of purple 
cloth embroidered and covered with precious 
stones. On the top of the shaft was a crown 
composed of gold and jewels, just beneath this 
crown being an image of the emperor and his 
sons." To this day the designs on chancel 
cloths, X P, serve to remind us of the Greek 
monogram of Christ's name, <Jj?, written by 
the first Christian emperor upon his battle 
standards. 

The promise of the vision was fulfilled, and 
under the sign of the cross the emperor was 
victorious. On the 27th of October, 312, the 
legionaries of Maxentius were defeated, near 
the city of Rome, their leader perishing miser- 
ably in the waters of the Tiber. Moreover, Li- 
cinius was successful over Maximin, whose death 
followed close upon his defeat at Heraclea, so 
that Constantine and Licinius were now the only 

69 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



survivors of the six co-regents of five years 
before. 

The Edict of Toleration. — Constantine did 
not permit the elation of triumph to obliterate 
his vision of the cross. After his victorious en- 
trance into Rome he erected in the forum a 
statue of himself, which held in its right hand 
the Christian labarum, with the words, " By this 
saving sign, true token of bravery, have I deliv- 
ered your city from the yoke of the tyrant." And 
the next year, seeking out Licinius in Milan, he 
induced him to join in the famous edict which 
not only proclaimed absolute freedom of re- 
ligious toleration, but also provided for the res- 
titution of all churches, and other Christian prop- 
erty, that had been confiscated during the times 
of persecution. The edict proceeds, magnani- 
mously : " They who, as we have said, restore 
them without valuation and without price may 
expect their indemnity from our munificence and 
liberality." 

There remained but one more step for Con- 
stantine to take: he had not yet officially pro- 
claimed Christianity as the state religion. This 
proclamation was not issued until he had finally 
attacked and conquered his sole remaining rival, 
Licinius, who, to strengthen his position, had 
courted and secured the support of thousands of 
pagans opposed to the Christian inclinations of 

70 



CONSTANTINE 



Constantine. This final struggle was therefore 
equivalent to a struggle between heathendom 
and Christendom for the possession of the Ro- 
man crown. In several successive battles the 
Christians conquered. The last contest, occur- 
ring in September, 324, resulted in the complete 
overthrow of Licinius and the attainment of 
Constantine's supreme ambition. The Roman 
empire was once more united under a single 
ruler, and a Christian emperor was master of 
the world ! 

The Edict of Establishment. — Immediately 
upon the achievement of his long-cherished de- 
sire, Constantine took the last step in his favorit- 
ism of the Christian religion. He issued a gen- 
eral exhortation to all of his subjects that they 
should become the disciples of Christ. Now, 
while this decree, with a wise liberality that 
surprises us, conserved the spirit of religious tol- 
eration by permitting all Roman subjects to wor- 
ship according to their convictions, it neverthe- 
less virtually amounted to the general adoption 
of Christianity throughout the empire. For, al- 
though many were to be found who still adhered 
to the traditions of their fathers, yet, on the 
whole, the emperor's preference was the people's 
choice. From this time forth he took a promi- 
nent part in the counsels of the church, although 
not baptized until just before his death. To- 

71 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



gether with his aged Christian mother, the 
innkeeper's daughter, he erected handsome 
churches, especially in Jerusalem. He was punc- 
tilious in attendance on public services, and even 
preached on occasions, using with great effect 
the events of his own life to prove the power of 
the Christians' God. 

The Council of Nice. — In the year 325 the 
emperor called, in the city of Nice, a general 
council of the church, over which he himself pre- 
sided. In the matter of this convocation Con- 
stantine was perhaps influenced by motives of 
policy more than by a desire to protect Christian 
doctrine. For he had hoped that this religion 
would prove a powerful bond of union through- 
out the reunited empire, and was disappointed 
upon finding the church cut into factions over 
the question of the divinity of Christ. He there- 
fore called a council, in order that this question 
might be settled and all cause for disunity re- 
moved. Arius, an elder from Alexandria, was 
leader of the unitarian wing, while Athanasius, 
afterwards bishop of Alexandria, was champion 
for the trinitarians. Athanasius triumphed, the 
Nicene Creed remaining to us as an outgrowth 
of Constantine's council. What a contrast, as 
Schaff points out, between Nero, driving his 
chariot through avenues of Christian martyrs, 
and Constantine, taking his golden throne at the 

72 



CONSTANTINE 



nod of the martyr-scarred bishops at the Coun- 
cil of Nice, that he might affix imperial sanction 
to the divinity of the crucified Jew! Within 
three hundred years the Christian community 
has grown from twelve Judean peasants to ten 
millions of baptized Roman subjects. The fiery 
cross of martyrdom is become the Fiery Cross of 
Victory. 

The City of Constantine. — The city of Con- 
stantinople remains a monument to this trans- 
formation. True, the great political sagacity of 
the emperor was the prime cause of the founding 
of his " New Rome." He perceived that the 
site of ancient Byzantium, connecting, as it does, 
two seas and two continents, was the political 
centre of gravity for his whole empire. Is not 
the genius of his choice proved by the fact that 
even " The Sick Man of the East" is still able 
to prolong his life and rule in this capital of un- 
equalled advantages? Then, too, his inevitable 
vanity was manifested in his action. Nero, 
equally vain, but far less fortunate, had died 
without leaving a new Rome, to be called " Ne- 
ropolis." And yet, when all is said, we cannot 
forget that the ambitious emperor did, indeed, 
make Constantinople a distinctively Christian 
city. " Here, instead of idol temples and altars, 
churches and crucifixes rose; and the smoke of 
heathen sacrifices never rose from the seven hills 

73 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



of new Rome except during the short reign of 
Julian the Apostate." 

A Sermon in Stone. — It is in old Rome, how- 
ever, that we find the most eloquent monument 
to the growth of the magic blade. Two neigh- 
boring triumphal arches are still standing among 
the ruins, — one, the Arch of Titus; the other, 
the Arch of Constantine. 

The Arch of Titus commemorates his destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, in the year 70, as Jesus had 
foretold. It means that the same soldiers that 
had crucified the prophet of the Jews afterwards 
unwittingly fulfilled His prophecies, and thereby 
verified His claims. It means that the power of 
the Jews had perished, and that Rome, by de- 
stroying the early anchorage of the little church, 
thenceforward linked its history with her own. 

Between this Arch of Titus and the other 
intervene two centuries of martyr blood shed by 
Roman hands against the followers of Jesus. 
The second arch is the Arch of Constantine, built 
by him to* commemorate the Christian victory 
over Rome. He was a Roman emperor, but he 
worshipped the despised Judean King. This 
monument testifies with silent eloquence that the 
Jew has conquered the Roman, the Roman em- 
pire is become a Christian empire, and the seed 
of Christ's kingdom was indeed and in truth 
the blood of Christ's saints. 

74 



CONSTANTINE 



2. THE WORM OF WORLDLINESS 
The Philosophy of Persecution. — Is it possible 
for us to understand, in some degree, this mys- 
terious alchemy of blood ? What is the explana- 
tion of the fact that the Christian church has 
always thrived on persecutions, whereas it has 
often lost its vigor and purity in times of pros- 
perity and peace ? 

(a) Dispersion. — It is doubtless true that one 
very simple reason for the reactionary benefits of 
persecutions consists in the fact that persecutions 
secure dispersion, and the dispersion of Chris- 
tians means the dissemination of the gospel. In 
the book of the Acts we read of a great persecu- 
tion against the church which was at Jerusalem, 
so that the believers " were all scattered abroad." 
And then, in almost the succeeding verse, it is 
written, " Therefore they that were scattered 
abroad went everywhere preaching the word." 
Hence it appears that the early persecutions were 
directly instrumental in the further diffusion of 
the gospel. Those that were persecuted " went 
everywhere preaching the word." The word, 
after all, is the one true seed of the kingdom, 
without which this other seed of martyr blood 
would never exist at all. In those days every 
fugitive was an evangelist preaching the word. 
It was not, like the present, a time of the easy 

75 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



and rapid communication of news. Without a 
dispersion, the " Good News" would have been 
much longer in reaching every nook and corner 
of the Roman empire than it actually was. And 
so did God make the wrath of man to praise 
Him. 

(b) Conviction. — But there is a deeper rea- 
son than this for the vivifying power of per- 
secutions. " The blood of the martyrs is the 
seed of the kingdom/' chiefly because the word 
" martyr" means " witness ;" because every mar- 
tyr's death is the witness of a power which 
transcends fear and pain and even death itself, 
leading men willingly to " endure as seeing Him 
that is invisible," persuading them to " reckon 
that the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us." The multitude looks on 
with awe-struck wonder, and finally perceives 
that it needs just such a power as this. Men, 
filled with " world weariness," longing for what 
earth cannot bestow, see in the sufferings of the 
saints a vital faith which fixes firmly on a life 
beyond, so that every martyr becomes a witness, 
in the fellowship of his sufferings with Christ, 
to the power of the resurrection of Christ, a wit- 
ness to the " city not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens, whose builder and maker is 
God." 

76 



CONSTANTINE 



(c) Purification. — Persecutions were also a 
blessing to the church in that they secured its 
purity, its freedom from dross. For it cannot 
be doubted that in the chilling blasts of the 
church's winter the love of many grew cold, so 
that hundreds fell away into the old and easy 
life of heathendom. This left the remaining 
body of Christians one of great purity and faith- 
fulness, whose lives were to outsiders as a city 
set on a hill, whose light cannot be hid. Fiery 
trials, indeed, there were, yet the " beloved" 
were not to wonder concerning these fiery trials, 
as though " some strange thing" happened unto 
them. Rather were they to " rejoice, inasmuch 
as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings," " that 
the trial of your faith, being much more pre- 
cious than of gold that perisheth, might be found 
unto praise and honor and glory." We find St. 
Paul, with his acute understanding of the phi- 
losophy of discipline, actually declaring that he 
took pleasure in reproaches and persecutions for 
Christ's sake. And he writes to the troubled 
Thesallonians, " We also glory in you, for your 
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations 
that ye endure : which is a manifest token of the 
righteous judgment of God, that ye may be 
counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for 
which ye also suffer." Their sufferings were for 
the good of the church, both collectively and in 

77 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



its members. An old writer has summed up the 
spiritual benefits of persecutions in these words : 
" As frankincense, when it is put into the fire, 
giveth the greater perfume; as spice, if it be 
pounded and beaten, smelleth the sweeter; as 
the earth, when it is torn up by the plough, be- 
cometh more fruitful; the seed in the ground, 
after frost and snow and winter storms, spring- 
eth the ranker ; the nigher the vine is pruned to 
the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the 
grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, 
maketh the sweetest wine; linen, when it is 
bucked and washed, wrung and beaten, is so 
made fairer and whiter, — even so the children 
of God receive great benefit by persecution ; for 
by it God washeth and scoureth, schooleth and 
nurtureth them, that so, through many tribula- 
tions, they may enter into their rest." 

Therefore our Lord said, when preaching on 
the mountain, in a beatitude which was at once 
a prophecy and a promise, " Blessed are they 
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There is the 
relationship of cause and effect between the une- 
qualled persecutions of the early church and the 
fact that never since that day has she worn such 
shining, spotless garments, being fitly adorned 
as the bride of the Heavenly Bridegroom. She 
had made her garments white in blood. 

78 



CONSTANTINE 



The Church at Peace. — Now, our Lord said 
also to His disciples, " Woe unto you, when all 
men shall speak well of you! for so did their 
fathers to the false prophets," distinctly imply- 
ing that when persecutions utterly cease, the 
church has need to look to herself, lest she be 
found to be false to the truth. And is not the 
need of this warning sadly justified by the re- 
sults that followed upon the sudden transition, 
under Constantine, from persecution and poverty 
to prosperity and power? The triumphant em- 
peror, especially in his later days, did little credit 
to the faith he defended and confessed. The 
bravery of his youth degenerated into cruelty, 
and his ambition into rapacity ; while the vanity 
that had been merely amusing in the young 
prince became a painful and injurious thing in 
the aged man. Sismondi tells us that in his later 
days he gave way to excessive, even ludicrous 
vanity, decorating his head with false hair of 
different colors, and with a diadem covered with 
pearls and gems. His nature becoming suspi- 
cious, " he filled his palace with eunuchs, and 
lent an ear to their perfidious calumnies. He 
multiplied spies, and subjected palace and em- 
pire alike to a suspicious police." 

The saddest characteristic of this spoiled em- 
peror was the cruelty that stained his later rec- 
ords. " He poured out the best and noblest blood 

79 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



in torrents, more especially of those nearly con- 
nected with himself." The most illustrious vic- 
tim of his tyranny was his son Crispus, who in- 
curred his father's jealous displeasure through 
his success in battle, as young David had excited 
the envious wrath of Saul. 

The Church stumbles. — Alas ! that the church 
itself should have been involved in the crimes of 
Constantine ! But the truth must be told. And 
the truth is that deacons and bishops, not able to 
endure, undazzled, the sudden access of pomp 
which the policy of Constantine had secured for 
the church, became but a flock of blind flatterers, 
too nerveless to rebuke, or even to instruct, this 
vain and rapacious ruler. They fawned about 
him, anxious for some fat living, eager for posi- 
tions of advancement, and by their cowardly 
silence they made the church a partaker in his 
crimes. 

So, then, the removal of persecutions was at- 
tended by the arrival of corruption. No sooner 
was the emperor a " Christian" than Christianity 
began to be secularized. Gregory Nazianzen, 
a powerful preacher of a slightly later period, 
paints with graphic touch the worldliness that 
had set in. " We rest luxuriously on soft and 
sumptuous cushions. We are vexed with but 
the voice of a moaning beggar. Our chambers 
must breathe the breath of the rarest flowers. 

80 



CONSTANTINE 



Slaves must stand ready with cups and with 
fans. Our tables must bend with loads of costly 
dishes." The religion of Christ was forgotten. 

For in the train of sumptuous living followed 
cruelty and vice. A notorious example occurred 
in the year 415, when a rabble of Christians in 
Alexandria, under the leadership of the bishop 
of the city, perpetrated a crime scarcely sur- 
passed in malignant ferocity by any that Nero 
had devised. They tore to pieces, and in a 
church at that, the woman philosopher, Hypatia, 
and made a bonfire of the mutilated fragments ! 
The history of the church in every age is a 
striking commentary on the emphatic words of 
Jesus, when he said, " Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon." The church of Constantine had 
grown with magic swiftness into a mighty blade 
indeed, but the worm of worldliness was gnaw- 
ing at its heart. 

But the Church stands. — Yet, while it was a 
corrupted church, it was still the church, and the 
church victorious over paganism. As Sohm has 
sagaciously observed, " The marvel of Christian- 
ity and its greatest achievement is just this : that 
it could not be destroyed, that it won the victory 
although so miserably represented by its fol- 
lowers." God's omnipotent plan for the growth 
of His kingdom makes " princes" at times out of 
wretchedly poor material, as the whole Bible his- 
6 81 



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tory witnesseth, from Jacob and David to St. 
Thomas and St. Peter. As for Constantine, the 
lustre of his service to the kingdom may be sadly 
tarnished by certain of his private vices, but it 
cannot be destroyed. His character is certainly 
" not to be imitated or admired, but much to be 
remembered, and deeply to be studied." 

The Death of Constantine. — It is pleasing to 
believe that in his very last days Constantine be- 
came really a changed man, experiencing that 
inner transformation which he had secured ex- 
ternally throughout his realm. Baptized while 
dying at Nicomedia, in the sixty-fifth year of his 
age, he promised to live thenceforth as a worthy 
disciple of the Lord ; " refused to wear again 
the imperial mantle of cunningly woven silk, 
richly ornamented with gold ; retained the white 
baptismal robe; and died trusting in the mercy 
of God." 

If Constantine did not live worthily as a Chris- 
tian emperor, we may yet believe that he died so ; 
and rejoice that God made " possible" the " im- 
possible," leading at last this rich prince, who 
did so much to found His kingdom here on earth, 
into the narrow gate of the kingdom which is in 
heaven. 

And yet his holy death could not undo the 

unholy influences of his life, even as his white 

baptismal robe might not displace the garments 

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of worldliness in which he had helped to deck 
the church. It was needful for the church to be 
taught a severe but wholesome lesson. This les- 
son came in the guise of a pagan revival. 

The Pagan Revival. — Paganism itself had felt 
the leavening influence of Christianity. For if 
our Lord spoke the parable of the mustard-seed 
to symbolize the external growth of the church 
from seed to blade, He also gave that other para- 
ble of the leaven, to denote its invisible action 
within society at large. " It was to grow into a 
great outward society, — the tree of the church; 
but it was also to do a work on secular society 
as such, corresponding to the action of leaven on 
flour." 

The working of this Christian leaven within 
the crude mass of pagan superstitions and myths 
produced a result known as the New Platonism, 
a reformation which called to its aid both phi- 
losophy and ethics. That is to say, this reformed 
school of heathendom not only transmuted the 
ancient mythologies into a sort of theosophy, or 
philosophy of natural religion, but also added 
a strenuous moral code, largely borrowed from 
the tenets of the new faith. It was precisely the 
same result that Christianity is now effecting 
upon Buddhism in the Far East. And as then, 
so now, the movement will prove to be but the 
death-throe of the pagan system. 

83 



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The new Platonism took advantage of the pre- 
vailing corruption of the Constantinian church, 
and thousands of cultured, conservative Romans 
rallied at first to its standards. The most power- 
ful of these was the emperor Julian, a nephew 
of Constantine, whose three unworthy sons had 
waged a fratricidal war for the succession. Con- 
stantius, the eventual victor, and a nominal 
Christian, did more than his father to corrupt 
and shame the Christian church, going so far 
as to persecute those who would not confess the 
cross. 

Julian, educated as a Christian, in his heart 
zealously espoused the cause of the new Pla- 
tonism. This espousal at length developed into 
a perfect frenzy of devotion. When, in 361, he 
took the field against his cousin Constantius, the 
ambition of the powerful young soldier was not 
for himself so much as for the honor of the gods. 
His rival's death occurring opportunely, the 
new emperor's immediate endeavor was to re- 
store heathenism to its ancient place of splendor. 
In fact, the eighteen months of his remarkable 
reign were given to little else. Becoming a high 
priest of Apollo, he sacrificed in person, morning 
and evening, to the sun-god, to which deity he 
also made daily offerings of hundreds of bulls, 
amid the chanting of heathen priests and the 
religious dances of heathen women. An ascetic, 

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he lived chastely and with severe simplicity, 
sleeping on the floor, boasting of his unkempt 
appearance, and occupying whatever leisure re- 
mained from his purely religious duties with 
either the writing of polemics or the devisement 
of designs against the Christians. These he re- 
moved from office, oppressed with taxes, de- 
prived of education and from the right of 
judicial trial, and, in a word, subjected to the 
most burdensome afflictions, while Christian 
images were carefully effaced from the coins 
and removed from all the standards of the 
empire. 

This zeal against the Christians was accom- 
panied by a corresponding ardor in behalf of 
their enemies, whether pagan Romans or ortho- 
dox Jews. For the emperor conceived it to be 
his highest duty, as a religious devotee, to dis- 
credit the Galilean superstition at all hazards, 
and by every means within his power. 

The most striking feature of this policy was 
Julian's unsuccessful attempt to rebuild the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem. His design in this was to de- 
stroy the popular confidence in the prophecies 
of Christ. Accordingly he called to his aid the 
patriotic enthusiasm of the Jews, who, with his 
own men, labored for the restoration of the 
splendid building destroyed by the soldiers of 
Titus. Jewish women, it is said, actually turned 

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their ornaments into silver spades and shovels, 
working with their own hands, and using their 
silken aprons as hods for the sacred soil. But re- 
peated attempts were utterly unsuccessful, as the 
apostate himself confesses; the pagan historian, 
Marcellinus, recording that " fearful balls of fire 
broke out near the foundations, continuing their 
attacks until they made the place inaccessible to 
the workmen, who, after repeated scorchings," 
were forced to give up the attempt. Concerning 
this testimony of Marcellinus, the sceptical Gib- 
bon confesses that " such authority should sat- 
isfy a believing, and must astonish an incredu- 
lous mind." And Gibbons adds that " an earth- 
quake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which 
overturned and scattered the new foundations of 
the temple," are attested by more than one con- 
temporary and trustworthy witness. 

Christianity Triumphant. — The brilliant, sin- 
cere, but deluded monarch died in the thirty- 
second year of his age, the later Christian his- 
torians reporting that his last words were, " Gal- 
ilean, thou hast conquered!" These words, 
whether uttered by Julian or not, express the 
exact truth. For after his death the line of 
Christian emperors continued unbroken, and the 
church, restored once more to its full authority, 
gave all too little heed to the moral significance 
of the "pagan revival." Neoplatonism grad- 



CONSTANTINE 



ually dwindled away, and at length, in the year 
2,88, under Theodosius the Great, the stubbornly 
conservative senate consented to degrade Jupiter 
Capitolinus by a formal vote, so that the last out- 
ward vestige of heathenism was forever banished 
from imperial Rome. The influence of the pa- 
gan philosophies, however, passed over into the 
church, determining to this very day the form 
and style of the Christian theology. 

3. DEVELOPMENT 

(a) Doctrine. — This influence especially ap- 
pears in the development of the doctrine of the 
early church. For no sooner did the church find 
leisure from persecutions, than its learned lead- 
ers began to give their studious attention to the 
teachings of the sacred writings of the New Tes- 
tament, most of which were recognized as in- 
spired Scripture from the beginning, though not 
collected into their final form until during the 
fourth century. 

The one great subject that enchained atten- 
tion from the first was the problem of the nature 
of our Lord. For the doctrine of God in the 
flesh is the supreme mystery of the Christian re- 
ligion, into which all others readily resolve them- 
selves. The same question that came to the first 
disciples came also to these : " Whom say ye 
that I am?" He was unquestionably the Son of 

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David, a real human being, whom men had 
heard, and seen with their eyes, and their hands 
had handled. How, then, could He be also Da- 
vid's Lord, the true God, the Lord of Hosts? 
And yet, when Peter had confessed, " Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus had 
blessed him, and called his confession nothing 
less than a revelation direct from heaven. Here, 
indeed, is a mystery. 

First Council (A.D. 325). — Very early, men 
were found to declare that " This is a hard say- 
ing ; who can hear it ?" The denial of our Lord's 
divinity gained such strength during the time 
of Constantine that, as we have seen, it threat- 
ened to disrupt the church.* But the Council 
of Nice repelled the followers of Arius, who 
taught that while the Second Person of the Trin- 
ity may be designated as God in some sense, yet 
He is not God " in any really true sense, because 
He is not eternal, and there was, therefore, a time 
when He did not exist." 

Second Council (A.D. 381). — No sooner had 
the Council of Nice declared its belief in the per- 
fect Godhead of the Lord, than the church was 
confronted with an error that had its origin in 
an extreme reaction against Arianism; that is, 
the denial, by Apollinaris and his followers, not 

* See page 72. * 

88 



CONSTANTINE 



of the divinity of Christ, but of His humanity! 
Therefore, just as the Nicene Council had as- 
serted His true divinity, so a second general 
council was called, under Theodosius, at Con- 
stantinople, and decreed its faith in His complete 
humanity. 

Third Council (A.D. 431).— But, if Christ be 
both God and man, how is the union of the two 
natures in the one Person to be explained ? Nes- 
torius advanced the simple theory that God 
unites Himself to all men in proportion to their 
merit; but to the Christ-Man in an unusual de- 
gree, because of His unusual merit. Jesus, while 
really a human child, became the true adopted 
Son of God. A third general council, convoked 
at Ephesus in 431, rejected this doctrine, affirm- 
ing over against it that the divine nature of 
our Lord took to itself the human nature at 
the time of the miraculous conception by the 
Spirit. 

Fourth Council (A.D. 451). — In that case, 
argued Eutyches, then His humanity must have 
lost its true nature, being absorbed by His divin- 
ity. But against this view the fourth general 
council, at Chalcedon, affirmed that the Saviour, 
being one Person, is yet of two distinct natures, 
inseparable, but not commingled. " In Him the 
two natures, divine and human, subsist in the 
unity of the one Person." 

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Fifth and Sixth Councils (A.D. 553 and 680). 

— The fifth and sixth councils, held at Constan- 
tinople, still further established and defended the 
formal statement of the doctrine of the incarna- 
tion against the attacks of the rationalists, thus 
affording for all time a solid foundation for the 
great central truths of Christianity, in a man- 
ner that would have been impossible, humanly 
speaking, without the influence and assistance of 
Greek philosophic thought. A great historian 
has beautifully written, " What is truly great, 
and noble, and beautiful, can never perish. The 
classic literature had prepared the way for the 
gospel in the sphere of natural culture, and was 
to be turned thenceforth into a weapon for its 
defence. The word of the great apostle of the 
Gentiles was here fulfilled: 'All things are 
yours.' This is the noblest, the most worthy, 
and most complete victory of Christianity, trans- 
forming the enemy into friend and ally." 

The great intellectual leaders of the church 
during this period of doctrinal development were 
Athanasius (296-373) and John Chrysostom 
(347-407) in the East, with Ambrose (340- 
397), Jerome (340-420), and Augustine (354- 
430) in the West. By far the greatest of these 
was Augustine, bishop of Hippo, whose influ- 
ence upon the development of the church has 
perhaps been equal to that of all the councils 

90 



CONSTANTINE 



r.ombined. With Paul and Luther, he is the 
middle link in the living chain that has bound 
the church fast to the great anchor-doctrine of 
justification by faith. On the other hand, he 
magnified the authority of the organized church 
to large proportions; and so united in him- 
self, as one has pointed out, the two opposed 
ideas that were destined to result in Protestant- 
ism on the one hand and Catholicism on the 
other. 

(b) Form. — This idea of the glory and au- 
thority of the church as an institution developed 
into large proportions from the time of Con- 
stantine downward. The union of church and 
state, which dates from his day, naturally had 
a powerful effect in the direction of a more com- 
plex organization of the church. Naturally, too, 
the church would borrow the form of its organi- 
zation from the state itself. If early Christen- 
dom was indebted to the Greek classics for the 
spirit of its inner philosophy, it owed quite as 
much to the Roman state for the form of its out- 
ward laws. Terse and forcible testimony is 
borne to this fact to-day by the invariable incor- 
poration of the word " Roman" with the name 
of the " Catholic" church, whose form of govern- 
ment is indeed a literal and exact survival of the 
superbly effective organization of the ancient 
Roman state. 

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Birth of the Papacy. — For a time the Roman 
emperor lorded it over the heritage of God, 
claiming, in return for the imperial patronage, 
the old rights of the pontifex maximus, or su- 
preme pontiff of religion. But the organism be- 
queathed by the state to the church at length 
became strong enough to assert its independence. 
That is to say, the natural result of the grafting 
of Roman law on the Christian church was the 
birth of an ecclesiastical imperialism known as 
the papacy; and the papacy soon grew suffi- 
ciently strong to dispute supremacy with the 
emperors themselves. 

It was the bishopric that afforded foundation 
for the structure of the papacy. Bishops had 
existed even in apostolic days, when James was 
bishop of Jerusalem. The word is simply the 
abbreviated Greek term for " overseer," and is 
used in the New Testament interchangeably with 
" pastor" and " elder," or presbyter. The bishop 
was at first simply the overseer of a single con- 
gregation, or of several congregations in the 
same locality, like many of our country pastors 
to-day. Gradually, however, in imitation of the 
Roman provincial system, the bishops of the 
larger cities began to exercise jurisdiction over 
the bishops of an entire territory; and, by a 
natural growth, a pre-eminence was finally 
allowed to the two church dignitaries of Rome 

92 



CONSTANTINE 



and Constantinople, the twin capitals of the 
empire. 

East and West. — Then it was not long before 
jealousies arose between these heads of the bi- 
cephalous church. Their strife finally culminated, 
during the eleventh century, in the Great Schism, 
whereby the Greek church and the Roman church 
remain separate unto this day.* But long before 
that time it became evident that the bishop of 

* The causes leading to this division were threefold, — 
(i) Political rivalry between the Eastern and Western 
empires. (2) Ecclesiastical rivalry between patriarchs 
and popes. (3) Temperamental differences between 
Orientals and Occidentals. The steps leading to the 
schism were also three, — (1) Seventh century. The 
Quinisext Council at Constantinople, dominated by 
Greek influence, promulgated certain disciplinary canons 
opposed to Roman usages, which the Pope promptly 
suppressed in the West. This gave definite expression 
to dissensions already existing. (2) Ninth century. The 
Pope and the patriarch quarrelled, their quarrel occa- 
sioning doctrinal disputes, especially concerning the pro- 
cession of the Holy Spirit, and resulting in mutual ex- 
communications. (3) Eleventh century. Another fierce 
quarrel occurred between patriarch and Pope, concern- 
ing questions of discipline ; the church finally took sides, 
and the breach opened, the numerical strength being 
about equally divided. The Eastern church from that 
time to the present has led a singularly passive exist- 
ence, in marked contrast with the virile activity of its 
rival in the West. To-day its greatest strength consists 
in the fact that it is the state church of Russia. It will 
undoubtedly be heard of again in the future, as that 
mighty empire unfolds its profound designs. 

93 



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Rome had secured the larger powers, and was 
correctly called the Papa, or Pope, of the church. 

Why Rome prevailed. — This achievement of 
Rome was due to many and complex causes. But 
the prime cause, perhaps, lies in the fact that the 
bishops of Rome have always insisted with 
strong emphasis on the divinely authorized pri- 
macy of Peter (see Matthew xvi. 18, 19), and 
have contended that he was the first bishop of 
Rome, of whom they, therefore, are the lawful 
successors. The rapid development of Western 
monasticism into a vast and active organization, 
whereas the monks of the East remained ascetic 
and quiescent, supplied the popes with a large 
and well-ordered school for the demonstration of 
this doctrine. Nor have they ever failed to take 
full advantage of whatever historical circum- 
stances might serve to dignify their authority or 
to increase their power. 

Growth of the Papacy. — These opportunities 
proved to be many and great. Rome was the 
Eternal City; the City, beyond all others. All 
of the magic associations of power clustered nat- 
urally about that name. The other bishops, when 
puzzled by doctrinal or executive problems, 
looked, as a matter of course, to Rome as the 
seat of authority. Athanasius, for example, 
could scarcely have made good his triumph over 
Arius had he not appealed to Rome. And the 

94 



CONSTANTINE 



triumph of Athanasius was therefore the tri- 
umph of his Roman sponsor. The bishop of 
Rome became thereby the victorious leader of 
orthodoxy. 

Innocent I. (402-417). — The tone of the papal 
letters of advice gradually ceased to be advisory, 
becoming arrogant and mandatory. Finally, In- 
nocent I. laid it down as a rule that all churches 
ought to follow the usages of Rome, and his suc- 
cessor went so far as to declare the authority of 
the Roman see to be such that none might ques- 
tion its judgments. 

Leo I. (440-461). — It only remained for Leo 
the Great to assume to be the " Vicar of Christ," 
without whose jurisdiction there is no salvation; 
and the doctrine of the supreme authority of the 
bishop of Rome in spiritual matters could be 
carried little farther. The mediaeval bull known 
as the " Unam Sanctam" * merely enounced 
what Leo had long ago implied and enforced, 
— with its bold " We declare, affirm, define, and 
pronounce that it is altogether necessary for 
salvation that every human creature should be 
subject to the Roman pontiff." 

Gregory I. (590-604). — But if Leo the Great 
established the doctrine of the spiritual suprem- 
acy of the popes, it was reserved for Gregory the 

* See page 174. 
95 



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Great to provide for the extension of this su- 
premacy to temporal matters. By this time the 
popes had become large landowners in many 
parts of the empire ; and to possess lands was in 
those days to possess power. Moreover, the fact 
that the emperor lived at Constantinople made 
the Roman bishop the practical protector of the 
people against hordes of barbarians that now 
swarmed over Italy. Many a time was the Pope 
called on to play the part of emperor to the de- 
fenceless people of Rome. Gregory, a great and 
good man, zealous only for the glory of the 
church, seized these opportunities for her ad- 
vantage, thus making himself and his successors 
the monarchs of an ecclesiastical Rome, which 
came in the end to be mightier than the State 
itself. * 

Such was the outcome of the movement begun 
by Constantine. The church that had conquered 
the emperor's person now conquers the emperor's 
office. He had put the weapon of worldliness 
into her hand, and she shows that she knows how 
to use it. The papacy is Rome's gift to the 
church, as philosophy was the gift of Greece. 
And, precisely as philosophy was utilized for the 
development of Christian theology, so, doubtless, 
we shall see that the papacy will prove to be an 



* See page 149. 
96 



CONSTANTINE 



essential instrument in governing the barbaric 
hordes that might conquer Rome, but could by 
no means conquer the church. 

(c) Missions. — Roman Christianity had in- 
deed begun the conquest of the tribes long be- 
fore Alaric opened the Salarian gates. This is 
strikingly indicated by the fact, noted by all his- 
torians, that the savage Goth showed peculiar 
reverence for the property of the Christian 
churches. The remarkable development suc- 
ceeding the age of Constantine had been not only 
intensive, but extensive as well. The missionary 
spirit of St. Paul had descended upon the church, 
which continued his work of evangelizing " the 
regions beyond" with a zeal worthy of such an 
illustrious example. 

The Goths. — The introduction of Christianity 
among the Goths seems to have begun while they 
were still on the northern side of the Danube 
and the Black Sea, resulting, no doubt, from the 
devotion of Christian captives, many of whom 
had been snatched away into slavery among the 
barbarians. But it was not until the fourth cen- 
tury that a missionary was ordained to the 
Gothic tribes, in the person of Ulfilas, an Arian, 
who labored as their bishop with great success 
for forty years, though not without discourage- 
ment, and even persecution. Reducing their lan- 
guage to written form, he produced the first mis- 
7 97 



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sionary translation of the Scriptures, which was 
powerfully influential in Christianizing the whole 
body of the Goths, and their nearest neighbors 
likewise. 

The Irish. — The Irish, like the Goths, were 
also turned to the Christian faith by the efforts 
of devout slaves, — Patrick and Bridget, who, in 
reward for their labors, were afterwards made 
the patron saints of a grateful people. The lad, 
who was a shepherd slave, managed at one time 
to make his escape into France; but a religious 
dream, somewhat like that of Paul with the 
Macedonian, led him back to the country of his 
bondage, where he filled fifty years with arduous 
labors in behalf of the church. So much legend 
clusters about the name of his feminine succes- 
sor that the most we can say of her is that she 
was undoubtedly an important agent in the con- 
version of the natives of Ireland. 

The Scotch. — Evangelized Ireland sent an 
apostle to Scotland, — Columba, who landed in 
the year 563 on the inhospitable island of Iona, 
with twelve missionary companions, who labored 
with him in untiring zeal for the conversion of 
the savage Scotch. " He was manly, tall, and 
handsome, incessantly active, and had a sonorous 
and far-reaching voice, rolling forth the Psalms 
of David, every syllable distinctly uttered." Bede 
says that " he converted by example as well as 

98 



CONSTANTINE 



by word." Dying beside the altar, while en- 
gaged in his midnight devotions, the personality 
of this heroic Celt stands out as one of the most 
picturesque figures in the missionary history of 
the church. 

Britain. — But the most romantic story of all 
has to do with the conversion of the English. 
The Britons had received the gospel very early 
in the history of the church; for Tertullian, in 
the year 208, wrote that " places in Britain not 
yet visited by the Romans were already subject 
to Christ." This early church, however, was al- 
most killed by the conquests of the Teutons in 
the fifth and sixth centuries, and the Christiani- 
zation of the new Anglo-Saxon race was destined 
to come from Rome. 

The English.— Bede tells us that the abbot 
Gregory, who afterwards became the great pope 
of that name, while walking one day through 
the slave-market at Rome, was struck with 
the beauty of three fair Anglo-Saxon youths. 
Learning, to his grief, that these sweet- faced lads 
were heathen, he asked the name of their race. 
" They are Angles," was the reply. " Right !" 
rejoined the quick-witted abbot ; "for they have 
angelic faces, and are worthy to be heirs with 
the angels of heaven. Whence come they?" 
When told that they came from the province of 
Deira, he exclaimed, " They are, indeed, de irans, 

99 



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plucked from the ire of God!" Finally, when 
informed that the name of their king was vElla, 
he cried, " Alleluia ! for the praises of God must 
be sung in those parts !" Going straightway to 
the papal residence, he besought the Pope to send 
him as a missionary to England, and actually 
started for the spiritual conquest of that distant 
island. But, being recalled by the voice of his 
people, who raised him to the papal chair, he 
yet did not forget the fair-haired lads, and in the 
year 596 sent a party of thirty-two missionaries, 
headed by the abbot Austin, to the realm of one 
of the rulers of England, King Ethelbert. The 
king, whose queen was already a Christian, gra- 
ciously received them with the words, " Your 
speech and promises are very fair; but, as they 
are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot 
forsake the religion I so long have followed, to- 
gether with the entire English nation. Yet, as 
you are come from far, and are desirous to help 
us, I will give you all needful sustenance, and not 
forbid you to preach, or to convert as many as 
you can to your faith." Some of the people soon 
believed, and were baptized, " admiring," Bede 
says, " the simplicity of their innocent lives, and 
the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine." The 
next year Ethelbert himself became a Christian, 
soon drawing his whole kingdom with him. 
Within a hundred years the entire heptarchy had 

100 



CONST ANTINE 



followed, and the church had conquered England, 
under the leadership of Austin, the first arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. During the eighth cen- 
tury the English Christians became so vigorous 
that they sent out to their ancestors on the con- 
tinent Winfrid, who became the " Apostle of 
Germany." 

Ancient " Germany." — " Germany" was in 
very early times no more than a name ap- 
plied to a large and indefinite territory lying 
north of Italy, just across the Alps, and in- 
habited by races of whom the chief called them- 
selves Cimbri and Teutones, our modern French 
and Germans. These made their first appear- 
ance in Italy in the year 113 B.C., greatly start- 
ling the people, as they came, " sitting on their 
great shields, shooting down the snow slopes of 
the Alps upon them." They were large, brave 
men, fair-haired, blue-eyed, close kinsmen of the 
folk who afterwards conquered England. 

The French. — Eventually their lands com- 
prised the kingdoms of the East and West 
Franks, loosely united under a single ruler, of 
whom the first was Clovis (481-51 1 ) , a Western 
Frank, or Cimbrian. He and three thousand of 
his warriors became nominal Christians under 
Bishop Remigius, of Rheims, receiving baptism 
on Christmas-day of the year 496. This was the 
beginning of Christianity in France. 

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The kingdom of the East Franks gradually 
developed into modern Germany, though its dis- 
tinctive emergence did not begin to appear until 
after the time of Charlemagne. The West 
Franks readily amalgamated, both in blood and 
speech, with the Italians and the Gauls, whereas 
their neighbors across the Rhine proved to be 
conservatives, maintaining the purity of their 
original race and language down to the present 

day. 

The Germans.— A Presbyterian historian has 
said that these Teutons " were predestinated for 
Christianity, and Christianity for them." So 
also, in effect, thinks the French essayist, Taine. 
However that may be, it is certain that history 
contains few facts more wonderful than the rapid 
conquest, through the cross, of these conquerors 
of the hitherto unconquerable Romans. These 
strange, strong " spearmen," who would not bow 
the knee to any earthly king, bowed instinc- 
tively before the Heavenly King of whom the 
Romans told them. The subjection which they 
refused to the state they willingly granted to 
the church. 

It is true that Winfrid, surnamed Boniface, 
found that seed had been already sown when he 
came from England as missionary to the Ger- 
mans. The conversion of the Goths had had its 
effect upon these their kinsmen; but the Chris- 

102 



CONSTANTINE 



tianity which Ulfilas had taught was Arianism. 
Moreover, certain missionaries from Ireland, 
such as Severinus, Columbanus, and Willebrord, 
had preceded Boniface. Yet his labors far ex- 
ceeded theirs, fairly entitling him to be called the 
apostle of Germany. Sacrificing brilliant pros- 
pects in England, he gave his life to this his 
chosen work. Between the years 718 and 755 he 
toiled with ceaseless devotion, meeting at last a 
martyr's death at the hands of the pagan Fri- 
sians, his head pillowed on a copy of the Gospels. 
A band of faithful followers survived him, to 
complete his plans, which were full of common 
sense. Boniface believed that the heathens could 
not become good Christians unless they were also 
civilized. Therefore he and his monks taught 
them to fell the trees, drain the swamps, and 
till the soil. "Those whom they converted 
they settled in cottages round their monasteries, 
and so, in time, these settlements grew into 
towns." 

The most effective deed in Winfrid's career 
was also the most dramatic. At Geismar stood 
a huge oak-tree, which the heathens had deified 
and worshipped. They believed that whoso 
might harm it should certainly die. But Boni- 
face, armed only with an axe, cut it down be- 
fore their wondering eyes, unharmed. Thus he 
laid the axe to the root of heathendom, for their 

103 



THE MAGIC BLADE 



faith fell with the oak. A beautiful legend con- 
nects this incident with the origin of the Christ- 
mas-tree. 

Thus closely have the Christian destinies of 
Germany and England interlocked. In the fifth 
century the Teutons settled England; in the 
eighth century the English evangelized the Teu- 
tons. And we shall find them linked together 
again during the period of the Reformation. 



104 



Ill 

HIDDEN EARS 

BERNARD 



i. A SECOND CONSTANTINE 

Hermann versus Varus. — The Roman church 
had conquered the Germans, but the Germans 
now conquer Rome. This conquest had been 
a-preparing for centuries, the final issue being 
never in doubt, — never, at least, after that fate- 
ful day in the year 9, when the doughty Hermann 
defeated Varus in the Teutoburger forest. Au- 
gustus, half mad with grief and shame, is said 
to have moaned, over and over again, " O Varus, 
Varus! give me back my legions!" For the 
choice flower of the Roman army had fallen be- 
fore the Frankish scythe of war.* This plaintive 
prayer was never answered. From that time 
forward, by the operation of an inexorable nat- 
ural law, one witnesses the slow, resistless ex- 
pulsion of the elder races from the seats of 
power, which henceforth are to be occupied by 
the virile young nations of the North. The time 
had come for the Romans to give way to the 
Franks, " the Free." Step by step, whether in 

* Freeman tells us that as late as the twelfth century 
" the name of Frank was still used, and used, too, with 
an air of triumph, as equivalent to the name of Ger- 
man." 

107 



HIDDEN EARS 



war or at peace, the sturdy invaders pushed their 
way towards the throne. 

The goal was finally reached on Christmas- 
day of the year 800, when, in the church of St. 
Peter's, Pope Leo III. suddenly placed a golden 
crown upon the head of Charlemagne, while the 
Roman people shouted, " Long live Carolus Au- 
gustus, crowned of God to be the great and 
peaceful emperor of Rome !" By this portentous 
act the church of the West declared its inde- 
pendence of the now decadent throne at Constan- 
tinople, establishing, in mighty rivalry, " The 
Holy Roman Empire;" and the emperor selected 
was a German. 

Popes and Emperors. — The popes had known 
good reason for their friendliness towards the 
Frankish rulers, almost from the time of Clovis 
onward. Church and state had mutual interests 
in the frequent wars; the Franks to strengthen 
their temporal power, and the popes to extend 
their spiritual sway throughout the continent. 
Karl Martel (" Charles the Hammer") did noth- 
ing less than save the whole of Europe for the 
Christian church, as against Islam, in the great 
battle which he fought in the plain between Poi- 
tiers and Tours, in the year 732. " Our churches, 
colleges, Christian homes, have root and nutri- 
ment to this hour in the soil soaked with the 
blood of those who fought eleven and a half cen- 

108 



BERNARD 



turies ago in that fierce and fateful battle." It 
requires, however, the perspective of history to 
appreciate fully this splendid service of Karl 
Martel. In the eyes of the contemporary papacy, 
Karl's son, Pepin the Short, wrought still 
greater service when he wrested rich estates from 
the Lombards and presented them to the Pope, 
thus giving full warrant to the claims of papal 
sovereignty. And Pepin's son, Charlemagne, in 
subduing the Saxons to his crown, subdued them 
also to the cross. 

The Holy Roman Empire. — So the ambitious 
and imaginative mind of Leo III., who, more- 
over, was under deep personal obligations to 
Charlemagne, now conceived the luminous idea 
of " the Holy Roman Empire." On the one 
hand, the West had long outgrown its allegiance 
to Constantinople, — an allegiance which seems to 
have received its final blow in the accession of a 
woman, Irene (733), who had deposed and 
blinded her own son. On the other hand, greater 
militant power was needed to subdue rebellious 
tendencies at home. The Pope saw that the time 
had now come for the papacy, at a single stroke, 
both to declare its emancipation from foreign 
guardianship, and to augment its strength at 
home. He conceived that this was to be done by 
the wedlock of the two ideas of Leo the Great 
and Gregory the Great. Of this union was 

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HIDDEN EARS 



straightway born the Holy Roman Empire, a 
sort of Siamese twin, the emperor wielding for 
the church the sword of temporal power, whilst 
the Pope held the sword of the spirit. Had not 
Christ bidden His disciples buy swords? And 
when they answered, " Lord, behold, here are 
two swords," had He not said, " It is enough" ? 
Strange as it may seem, this Scripture was actu- 
ally used by Bernard of Clairvaux in vindication 
or the new regime. " Upon this text a theory 
was founded that Christ gave to His church, and 
to the Pope, as the spiritual head of His church, 
the two swords of spiritual and temporal power ; 
but that, as it was inexpedient for the Pope in 
his spiritual capacity to wield the sword of tem- 
poral menace, he delegated it to a temporal sov- 
ereign, and that thus the Pope in sacred matters 
remained the spiritual ruler, whilst the emperor 
exercised the delegated authority in temporal 
matters. The Pope cut off with the sword of 
excommunication, and the emperor with the 
sword of justice." 

Charlemagne. — The Pope's twin was a mighty 
man of valor. " His life, like his stature, was 
colossal." It has frequently been pointed out 
that with the name of no other prince has history 
inseparably bound up the word " great." Guizot, 
in his history of France, enthusiastically declares 
that " no sovereign, no human being, perhaps, 

no 



BERNARD 



ever rendered greater service to the civilization 
of the world." He flashes like a brilliant meteor 
between the eleventh hour of the dark ages and 
their eclipsing midnight, his career made all the 
more splendid by these contrasts. His early life 
shrouded in mystery, he appears suddenly before 
us in all the mature majestic strength of Diirer's 
fanciful painting, a glorious monarch, every inch 
a man and a king. Gigantic and well formed, 
with flashing eye that betokened both unusual 
physical vigor and mental power, he inspired his 
soldiers with invincible bravery, so that in all his 
numerous battles he met but one defeat. He saw 
his brightest dreams realized, leading his people 
like a second Moses out of the desert of bar- 
barism, and equipping them for future usefulness 
by a full code of civil and ecclesiastical laws. 
Some men possess ideas; others, the power to 
execute ideas. Charlemagne had both. More- 
over, the hour was ripe for him. Hence, a 
genius. 

His Work for Education. — The most impor- 
tant and most lasting work of Charlemagne was 
done for education. He achieved in general for 
the whole of Europe what Alfred shortly after- 
wards accomplished for England in particular. 
Himself little of a scholar save in his native 
tastes and talents, he yet laid the broad and solid 
foundations upon which our whole modern sys- 

iii 



HIDDEN EARS 



tern of education is built up. Not only did he 
found many schools throughout his empire, he 
even forestalled the nineteenth century by pro- 
viding that in these schools there should be no 
distinction between the high-born and the serf. 
Nay, he moreover proved, by the manner in 
which he brought up his own family, that he 
believed in the higher education for women, 
giving to his daughters equal advantages with 
his sons. He made his court a centre of learn- 
ing, the magnet of great scholars from all over 
Europe, and the seat of a library which for the 
times was costly and precious. His " Palace 
School," under the direction of Alcuin, of Eng- 
land, embraced in its course of study " all the 
branches of sacred and secular learning." He 
patronized music and the arts, being especially 
happy in his advancement of the quality of 
church song; and gave new and vital impulse 
to the development of what afterwards became 
the strong and musical language of France. 

His Work for the Church. — In all of his work 
Charlemagne worked for the church. If not 
religious, he was none the less pious. On the 
point of an irreligious sword he laid the turbu- 
lent Saxon nation as a pious offering at the feet 
of the Pope. He unified and ordered the cha- 
otic membership of the church, as perhaps a 
more truly religious man could not have done. 

112 



BERNARD 



His two great legal works, the Capitularies and 
the Caroline Books, were largely connected with 
the advancement of the welfare of the Church, 
while the " Homilarium" was nothing less than 
a book of sermons for the church year, prepared 
under his direction for the stimulation of the 
clergy. His favorite book was Augustine's 
" City of God." Like Constantine, he presided 
over synods and directed their discussions, not 
even hesitating, when occasion arose, to write 
letters of sharp admonition to abbots, bishops, 
or the Pope himself. He is, in fact, the domi- 
nant figure in the church of the early middle 
ages, completely overshadowing, even in their 
own sphere, his several twin brethren of the 
spiritual sword. 

In Charlemagne's private character there were 
ugly flaws. Vain, ambitious, he was also noto- 
riously unchaste, even in an unchaste age, actu- 
ally encouraging his own daughters towards 
dissolute lives rather than to be the settled wives 
of princes. Dying in his seventy-first year, he 
had himself entombed still seated on a royal 
throne, clad in gorgeous imperial robes; and 
the church subsequently wove about his buried 
head the aureole of a " saint," as it had done 
with his prototype, Constantine. 

Charlemagne and Constantine. — It is not a 
forced analogy to call Charlemagne " a second 
8 113 



HIDDEN EARS 



Constantine." Their characters and their ca- 
reers are startlingly similar. And when we 
search deepest, the analogy is strongest. Pre- 
cisely what Constantine did for the church in 
Rome during the fourth century, Charlemagne 
did for the church in Europe during the ninth 
century. Constantine lifted it from a chaos of 
blood, and Charlemagne from a chaos of dis- 
order, to dominate the world. They both did 
this by the union of church with state, Constan- 
tine laying the foundations of a system whereto 
Charlemagne set the capstone. But in this sys- 
tem lurks some fatal flaw. Only these two em- 
perors were great enough to uphold the imperial 
side of it with any show of grace, and they by 
overtopping the church with the state, by del- 
uging the church with worldliness. 

The Dark Ages. — After Constantine, came 
the pagan revival ; after Charlemagne, the dark 
ages. For when the meteoric Charles sank into 
the grave, the very darkness of the grave closed 
over the whole of Europe. The succeeding three 
hundred years were as black and chill as a 
lengthened Arctic night. It is not only impossi- 
ble to exaggerate the horror of these three cen- 
turies, especially the tenth; it is impossible to 
convey briefly an adequate idea of their terror 
and shame. 

Weak rulers had much to do with it, in a- 

114 



BERNARD 



time when nerves of steel were needed to uphold 
the floodgates against the terrible tides of bar- 
baric invasion, — to say nothing of the mainte- 
nance of Charlemagne's magnificent reforms. 
His successors were every whit as incompetent 
and corrupt as those of Constantine. His grand- 
sons, like the sons of his prototype, waged frat- 
ricidal war for the succession, and finally cut 
the empire piecemeal. Through sheer weakness 
it fell loosely together again under Charles the 
Fat, sad travesty of Charles the Great ; but after 
his wretched deposition all semblance of cohe- 
rence vanished, at least until the time of Otho. 

Barbarians. — The gates of empire were laid 
low before the hordes of Normans and Hunga- 
rians that poured into sunny France from the 
bleak North and from the barren steppes of 
Asia. During the ninth and tenth centuries 
there were no less than fifty incursions of the 
Northmen throughout France, which they swept 
as with a besom of destruction; while countless 
whirlwinds of the Huns devastated the whole 
of Europe, until the fields were actually left 
untilled, becoming as in primeval times the 
dwelling-place for numberless wild beasts, which 
herded in human homesteads, unafraid, and in 
turn less dreaded than the inhuman beasts of 
Huns. These were wandering shepherd tribes, 
natives of the north of Asia, and inhabiting the 

115 



HIDDEN EARS 



vast plains between Russia and China. " They 
had no houses. They lived in tents, in which 
they also stabled their horses. From being con- 
stantly on horseback their legs were crooked. 
They were short men, broad-shouldered, with 
strong, muscular arms; had coarse, thick lips, 
straight, black, wiry hair, little, round, sloe-like 
eyes, yellow complexions, and sausage noses. 
They were filthy in their habits; their horrible 
ugliness, their disgusting smell, their ferocity, 
the speed with which they moved, their insensi- 
bility to the gentler feelings, made the Goths, 
with whom they first came in contact, believe 
they were half demons. They ate, drank, and 
slept on horseback. Their no less hideous wives 
and children followed them in wagons. They 
ate roots and raw meat. They seemed insen- 
sible to hunger, thirst, and cold." To complete 
the repulsiveness of this interesting picture from 
Baring-Gould, we need only add that the weap- 
ons with which these frightful folk fought were 
the sword, the spear, the battle-axe, and, chiefly, 
the terrible Tartar bows. They seemed created 
and equipped of Satan himself. 

Barbarism. — With the coming of barbarians 
into the land, there was a revival of barbarism 
among the people. " One feels almost, in read- 
ing the foul and frightful annals, as if the an- 
cient pagan temper, driven into the a^r. or trod- 

116 



BERNARD 



den into the soil before the armies of the empire, 
had settled back densely and heavily upon Eu- 
rope, and was infecting and poisoning the very 
springs of spiritual life." This was true not 
only of the people, but also of their princes, and 
even of their popes. It is no figure of speech 
to say that the " vicars of Christ" became the 
devotees of Satan. Not only were Satanic rites 
practised at the Vatican, but the spirit of evil 
reigned there, the pontifical palace at one time 
becoming little else than " a vast school of pros- 
titution." These are not the slanders of Prot- 
estantism. Why, indeed, should not we feel as 
deeply as the Roman Catholics the shame of 
those awful days, seeing that the church of 
Rome is the mother of us all? The French 
Catholic, Mabillon, out of many that might be 
cited, confesses that most of the popes of the 
tenth century " lived rather like monsters, or 
like wild beasts, than like bishops." Let us hear 
also from Cardinal Newman on this subject. 
In his " Essays Critical and Historical" he de- 
clares that " no exaggeration is possible of the 
demoralized state into which the Christian 
world, and especially the church of Rome, had 
fallen in the years that followed the extinction 
of the Carlovingian line (a.d. 887). ... At 
the close of the ninth century Pope Stephen VI. 
dragged the body of an obnoxious predecessor 

117 



HIDDEN EARS 



from the grave, and, after subjecting it to a 
mock trial, cut off its head and three fingers 
and threw it into the Tiber. He himself 
was subsequently deposed, and strangled in 
prison. In the years that followed, the power 
of electing to the popedom actually fell into the 
hands of intriguing and licentious Theodora and 
her equally unprincipled daughters. . . . Boni- 
face VII. (a.d. 974), in the space of a few weeks 
after his elevation, plundered the treasury and 
basilica of St. Peter of all he could conveniently 
carry off, and fled to Constantinople. . . . Bene- 
dict IX. (a.d. 1033) was consecrated Pope, ac- 
cording to some authorities, at the age of ten 
or twelve years, and became notorious for adul- 
teries and murders. At length he resolved on 
marrying his first cousin; and when her father 
would not consent except on the condition of 
his resigning the popedom, he sold it for a large 
sum, and consecrated the purchaser as his suc- 
cessor. Such are a few of the most prominent 
features of the ecclesiastical history of these 
dreadful times, when, in the words of St. Bruno, 
' the world lay in wickedness, holiness had dis- 
appeared, justice had perished, and truth had 
been buried.' " It was a pagan revival of indefi- 
nitely greater strength and evil than that under 
Julian the Apostate; for then paganism was 
without the church, but now the church itself 

118 



BERNARD 



is paganized. Tiberius and Caligula, those 
monsters of heathendom, were now outdone by 
the " holy fathers" of Christendom, who vied 
with one another in the practice of the vilest 
vices, the rule of the Christian church being 
actually called, and truthfully called, a " Por- 
nocracy." 

Despair. — The distress of the people was most 
profound. As though the natural terrors were 
not sufficiently acute, they fell into abnormal fear 
of the supernatural. It was believed that the 
end of the world was nigh. Fearful portents 
were seen in sky and sea. Every night men 
laid their weary heads upon their pillows, in 
dread expectation of the midnight trump of 
doom. Each morning the sun blanched their 
faces with the promise of a burning world. 
Nerveless, they forsook accustomed tasks, await- 
ing in idle cowardice the final hour. Famine 
fell upon the land. Greece, Italy, France, and 
England were involved in it. The people ac- 
tually sank into the horrors of cannibalism. 
" Men ate earth, weeds, roots, the bark of trees, 
vermin, dead bodies." Mothers devoured their 
children, and children their mothers, in the 
frenzy of hunger. Men were murdered to be 
eaten, and human flesh was almost openly sold 
in the markets. " The multitude of the dead 
was so great that they could not be buried, and 

119 



HIDDEN EARS 



wolves flocked to feast on their bodies. Great 
numbers were tumbled promiscuously into vast 
trenches. A state of fierce cannibal savagery 
appeared likely to mark the end of a fallen and 
ruined race, for which the Lord had died in 
vain. It was not wonderful that men following 
their dead relations to the grave sometimes cast 
themselves into it, to end at once their intolera- 
ble life." The Roman Catholic historian, Mich- 
elet, has dramatically pointed out that " the 
very statues of the period are sad and pinched, 
as if the dreadful apprehension of the age had 
sunk into the softened stone." 

Such was the condition into which the Holy 
Roman Empire had fallen shortly after its glo- 
rious establishment by Leo III. and the meteoric 
Charlemagne. Such was the age upon which 
Bernard, the son of a feudal lord, opened his 
eyes in his father's castle in Burgundy, in the 
year 1091. 

2. THE REFUGE FROM THE WORLD 

In those dark and troublous times, human 
hearts were still to be found wherein burnt 
flames of heavenly aspiration. For these, the 
only refuge seemed to be the cloister, with its 
threefold vow of poverty, chastity, and obedi- 
ence. There, freed from the chilling world 
around them, freed also from its terrible temp- 

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BERNARD 



tations, these aspiring hearts thought to lay 
themselves upon the altar of holiness, to do spir- 
itual service by burning in spiritual sacrifice. 

The Monastic Idea. — The idea of monastic 
devotion is almost as old as the idea of religion 
itself. Wherever men have thought deeply of 
God, — that is to say, whenever men have become 
devout, — they have always tended to become 
also devotees, and straightway give up the world 
for heaven. This has been particularly true of 
the people of the mystical, brooding East. The 
ancient cult of Brahmanism, like the hoary re- 
ligions of Egypt and the more modern faith 
of Buddha, — these have always promised great 
reward to those that will flee the world and live 
the solitary life of the spirit. 

Monachism Alien to Christianity. — Mona- 
chism, in its origins, means precisely this : to 
live " alone," in a solitary cell, separated from 
the world unto God. And it is a strange illus- 
tration of the way in which Christianity has 
sometimes been moulded out of its divine shape 
by its human surroundings, that, in spite of the 
example of our Lord and of His precepts, the 
influence of human nature, aided perhaps by a 
tincture of the paganism of the Far East, was 
yet so great as to impose upon His religion as 
one of its chief institutions the utterly foreign 

idea of monasticism. It was a reproach brought 

121 



HIDDEN EARS 



against Christ by his " religious" contempora- 
ries that He was not an ascetic, but a wine-bib- 
ber, who mingled among the activities of publi- 
cans and sinners. He did, indeed, teach His 
disciples the duty of sacrifice, but it was the sac- 
rifice of service. " He that would be chief 
among you," said He, let him be as " one that 
doth serve." True, He warned them of the evil 
that is in the world, and prayed that from this 
evil they might be kept; yet He distinguished 
between evil and its abiding-place, just as He 
distinguished between sin and the sinner. His 
disciples were to live in the thick of the world 
as a purifying power therein, the " salt of the 
earth." Salt does not accomplish its purpose, 
which is the arrest of decay, except it find lodge- 
ment in the very heart of the putrescent mass. 
" I pray not," are the words of the High-Priestly 
prayer, — " I pray not that Thou shouldest take 
them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil." They were to be in 
the world, but not of the world. 

Monastic Growth in the East. — And yet, de- 
spite both His example and His precept, the 
doctrine of asceticism and self-seclusion soon 
found a large place in the lives of His followers. 
His forerunner had been a hermit, and His con- 
temporaries, the Essenes, an important religious 
school of the Jews, were little else than Phari- 

122 



BERNARD 



saic monks. We find traces of a Christian as- 
ceticism in very early times. But the first clear 
development of it comes significantly out of 
Egypt, the home of the hermits. The first Chris- 
tian hermit was Paul of Thebes, whose example 
inspired St. Anthony (251-356) to give wide- 
spread prevalence to the monastic idea ; and his 
friend Athanasius, in turn, became " its first 
sponsor in the West." The Eastern monasti- 
cism, however, while it rapidly attained large 
proportions, has always remained consistent with 
the spirit of the East, — passive, inactive, con- 
templative, mystical, and ascetic; having as its 
hero the " Saint of the Pillar," Simeon Stylites, 
who lived for thirty-six years standing on top 
of a pillar, " exposed to the scorching sun, the 
drenching rain, the crackling frost, the howling 
storm, living a life of daily death and martyr- 
dom." * 

Western Monasticism. — Western monasti- 
cism, on the other hand, has developed large ac- 
tivities ; and it is therefore solely with the West- 
ern branch that we are to be concerned as we 
trace the growth of the kingdom. 

Pachomius, also an Egyptian, introduced the 

* The historian of the Oriental church can triumph- 
antly exclaim, " The West has never had a Simeon Sty- 
lites !" See Tennyson's " St. Simeon Stylites" for a 
vivid picture of the experiences of this marvellous man. 

123 



HIDDEN EARS 



social feature into monasticism, which has given 
it such great powers by binding its adherents 
first into communities, and afterwards into gen- 
eral organizations. This is " convent" life 
proper, and in the Western church its founder 
may be regarded as Benedict of Nursia, who in 
the year 528 built the monastery of Monte Cas- 
sino, with a pattern and rule whereupon the 
numerous monasteries of the West were for 
ages uniformly fashioned. Wide diffusion was 
thus given to Benedict's belief in the benefits of 
labor as a means of discipline, instead of an 
ascetic idleness; and so through him monasti- 
cism became almost a new thing. Growing into 
an immense power, it attracted those of noble 
spirit into the cloister as a refuge from the 
world, whatever their rank or station, even lead- 
ing the world's nobility to lay aside all rank 
and wealth for the sake of a common cowl and 
cell. It manifested its strength in a signal way 
about twenty years before Bernard was born, 
by imposing the law of monkish celibacy upon 
the entire priesthood, through the monkish Pope, 
the great Hildebrand, Gregory VII. 

Benefits of Monasticism. — Monasticism was 
by no means without good results. Almighty 
God so overrules the mistakes of men in their 
clumsy work for His kingdom as to turn hin- 
derances into eventual helps. The event has 

124 



3 O 




BERNARD 



proved that for a certain stage in the develop- 
ment of the Christian world monachism played 
a very important part. " The ark described in 
the Biblical story could not do the work of a 
swift modern steamship ; but in its time, accord- 
ing to the narrative, it had its use and served 
its purpose, by saving the race from the whelm- 
ing flood." And, to carry out the figure, some 
scholars think that it was monasticism alone 
that saved Europe from complete destruction 
under the mediaeval flood of barbarism. " Had 
it not been for monks and monasteries," says 
Gregory Smith, in his work on Christian Mo- 
nasticism, " the barbarian deluge might have 
swept away utterly the traces of Roman civili- 
zation." 

Development of the Individual. — The large 
share which monasticism had in the shaping of 
the kingdom of God on earth found its basis 
in the fact that it provided a field for the devel- 
opment of the individual. The papacy had soon 
become a huge machine, the organized church 
emphatically a system, for bending or crush- 
ing the individual life into conformity with an 
institution. In a very important philosophical 
sense monasticism thus stood over against the 
papacy, however unconsciously, as a protest and 
a power for the unit as against a union. This 
was true even in a religious way. The church, 

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HIDDEN EARS 



as such, claimed the sole and supreme power 
of affording salvation, through its perfectly or- 
dered system of priests and sacraments. The 
monks, on the other hand, were really men who 
left the system provided by the church, going 
apart into desert places that none might come 
betwixt them and God, while they worked out 
their own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Monasticism was thus a sort of Protestantism; 
and it is certainly curious to recall that not only 
Luther, but also his great forerunner, Savona- 
rola, received training for the work of reform 
in the cloister. But, indeed, the historical watch- 
word of monasticism has always been Progress, 
as must ever be the case where individualism 
predominates. It has already appeared, in tracing 
the growth of missions, how much of the geo- 
graphical advancement of the church was due 
to the zeal of individual monks. In yet other 
instances this progressive zeal found an outlet 
through the channels of organized philanthropy. 
Culture. — Monasticism provided not merely 
for the religious life of the individual, but also 
for his physical and mental development. As 
has been indicated, it preached and practised the 
gospel of labor. Because of this fact, the 
brothers of the cell had immense share in the 
agricultural progress of Europe. Entering 
primeval forest or barren waste, they felled the 

126 



BERNARD 



trees, tilled the soil, planted vineyards, and liter- 
ally caused the desert to blossom as the rose. 
During the midnight hours of the dark ages it 
was they alone who preserved to Europe in any 
considerable degree the knowledge and practice 
of farming. Still others of them turned their 
taste to music, art, and letters, laboring in the 
creation of beauty. " The watchword of these 
monasteries and nunneries was not the annihi- 
lation, but the fulfilment of individuality. It 
meant to have an ear, not only for psalmody, 
but for the music of the heroic songs of Ger- 
many; to have an eye not only for letters, the 
rudiments of learning, but for painting, with 
the splendor of its sensuous charm, that looked 
not only to art, but to nature; nay, more, it 
meant to have a heart not only for the Latin 
of Virgil, but for our wonderful, scarce-dis- 
covered German mother-tongue, which became, 
as it were, for the first time conscious of its 
power within the cloistered walls of St. Gallen." 
So it was that " the first musicians, painters, 
farmers, statesmen, in Europe, after the down- 
fall of imperial Rome under the onslaught of 
the barbarians, were monks." So, also (to an- 
ticipate), it is unquestioned that Roger Bacon, 
a Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, is 
the pioneer of modern science, just as his great 

contemporary, Thomas Aquinas, represented the 

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HIDDEN EARS 



old school of scholastic theology in a manner 
worthy of its highest traditions. 

The Height of Monastic Influence. — This 
same thirteenth wonderful century, which Fred- 
eric Harrison deems one of the most fruitful in 
human history, witnessed the rise of the great 
orders of the beggar friars, Franciscans, and 
Dominicans,* who with sudden impetuous zeal 
transfused new life throughout the Catholic 
world, but speedily fell into disorganization and 
ill repute. It was during that brief but brilliant 
period that monasticism attained its widest sway, 
by sweeping the hitherto neglected middle classes 
into the pale of the militant church, leaving an 
influence in this direction which long survived 
the decline of the orders themselves. 

Three great institutions of the church were 
brought to their consummation during the mid- 
dle ages, — the papacy, monasticism, and scholas- 
ticism. The papacy had been largely dependent 
upon monasticism for its foundations, and now 
in mediaeval times finds therein the real sources 
of its worldly power. 

Scholasticism. — And as for scholasticism, it 
was borne bodily out of the cloister. Ueberweg 



* Dominic Guzman and Francis of Assisi were nobles 
who freely sacrificed themselves for the welfare of the 
church, the latter leading a life of self-denying devotion 
which rivals the saintly career of Bernard of Clairvaux. 

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defines it as philosophy in the service of theol- 
ogy. Then the men who did the harnessing 
were monks. We have already seen how, as even 
Lecky confesses, the monastery " became the 
one sphere of intellectual labor, and continued 
during many centuries to occupy that position." 
This intellectual industry was frequently pro- 
digious. Newman says that one monk copied 
a thousand volumes in less than fifty years, while 
"Jerome, a monk in an Austrian monastery, 
wrote so great a number of books that it is said 
a wagon with six horses would scarcely suffice 
to draw them." 

Anselm. — Anselm (1033-1109) it was, how- 
ever, who turned this great stream of industry 
from the channel of transcription into that of 
origination, or from a mere enjoyment of the 
intellectual work of others towards the cre- 
ation of the distinctive monastic product of 
scholasticism. He may, therefore, be regarded 
as the proper founder of scholasticism. While 
affirming vehemently that faith must always pre- 
cede knowledge, Anselm yet believed that rea- 
son should be employed as the handmaid of 
religion, towards the demonstration of the truth 
of our belief. The result was that he began the 
construction of a scientific theology upon the 
basis of the naked dogmas of the church. His 
greatest work, " Cur Deus Homo?" was a vig- 
9 129 



HIDDEN EARS 



orous essay on the vicarious atonement, in which 
he so thoroughly exhausted his theme that 
scarcely any new strength has been added to his 
argument down to the present day. Anselm was 
called from the monastery of Bee in the year 
1093 to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
where he had large share in directing those in- 
fluences that resulted in the freedom of the 
Church of England from the yoke of the Nor- 
man crown and its corresponding subjection to 
the papacy. 

Abelard. — But the greatest of the schoolmen 
was the monk Abelard, who carried the scho- 
lastic principle straight to its conclusion, re- 
versing the " Believe in order to understand" 
of Anselm, into a bold " Understand in order 
that thou mayest believe !" thus taking his posi- 
tion as the full-armored champion of reason, by 
giving knowledge precedence over faith. 
" For," said he, " no one can believe that which 
he does not comprehend, and it is absurd to set 
out to preach to others concerning things which 
neither those who teach nor those who learn 
can understand." 

His Mental Attitude. — Abelard, the most bril- 
liant example of monkish scholasticism, thus 
lifted the first voice in behalf of individual lib- 
erty of thought; in him the individualist spirit 
of monachism evolved prematurely into articu- 

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late utterance. But the church had its spokes- 
man in the person of Bernard, and the two 
great opposed ideas of the individual and the 
system finally engaged in splendid duel in the 
person of the greatest thinker and the greatest 
orator of their time. 

Pierre Abelard is the most brilliant and most 
tragic figure in the history of the church. The 
wealth of his knightly family provided his youth 
with the tutelage of the great nominalist, Ros- 
cellin, whose influence forever fixed the cast of 
his brilliant mind. The conflict of nominalism 
with realism, that is to say, of the rationalist 
with the mystic, of Aristotle against Plato, 
forms the moving power in the whole history 
of scholastic philosophy. Abelard proved to be 
such an apt disciple of Aristotelianism that when 
he afterwards studied dialectic in Paris, under 
the Platonist, William of Champeaux, he gave 
" infinite trouble with his subtle objections, and 
not seldom got the better" of his master. 

His Fame. — Having become at last an ac- 
complished adept in the use of William's own 
weapons, he drove his erstwhile master in merci- 
less triumph from his chair in the university, 
himself becoming the cynosure of intellectual 
Europe and the very idol of the city of Paris. 
Notwithstanding the tumult of the times, so un- 
favorable to the pursuit of scholarship, more 

131 



HIDDEN EARS 



than five thousand pupils shortly gathered 
around his chair from every quarter of the con- 
tinent. The close of the century in which he 
labored found the university numbering its pu- 
pils as ten thousand instead of a few hundred, 
while Paris itself had grown from a town of 
insignificant proportions to a " city of two hun- 
dred thousand souls, walled, paved, with several 
fine buildings and a fair organization." Far 
and away the chief agent in this wonderful mu- 
nicipal development was the magnetic personal- 
ity of Abelard, whose mind, in point of sheer 
keenness and brilliancy, stands almost alone in 
the intellectual annals of the more modern 
world. Before he was forty years old he had 
reached the highest academic position in Chris- 
tendom, finding himself the centre of a life such 
as the world had not witnessed since the palmiest 
days of Athens. 

Heloise. — Then it was that Nemesis crossed 
his pathway in the guise of a gentle girl. Hith- 
erto absorbed in mental pursuits, the scholar had 
given no thought to love. But now he suddenly 
became infatuated with the eighteen-year-old 
niece of a canon named Fulbert, in whose house 
he quickly contrived to find lodgings. The stu- 
dent was soon lost in the lover. Day after day 
a murmuring throng was turned away untaught, 
while Abelard's melodious voice could be heard 

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BERNARD 



through Fulbert's window, tremulous with the 
songs of an ardent love. 

It was the world-old story of Faust and Gret- 
chen. Marriage, under the laws and customs 
of those days, would have been fatal to Abe- 
lard's prospects, — a consideration of greater im- 
portance to the unselfish Helo'ise than even her 
own fair name. " She asked," he writes, " what 
glory she would win from me, when she had 
rendered me inglorious and had humbled both 
me and her. How great a punishment the world 
would inflict on her if she deprived it of so re- 
splendent a light; what curses, what loss to the 
church, w T hat philosophic tears, would follow 
such a marriage ! How outrageous, how pitiful 
it was, that he whom nature had created for the 
common blessing should be devoted to one 
woman, and plunged in so deep a disgrace! 
Profoundly did she hate the thought of a mar- 
riage that would prove so humiliating and so 
burdensome in every respect to me." 

To appease the wrath of her uncle, how- 
ever, Heloise finally consented to a strictly secret 
marriage, although " weeping and sobbing ve- 
hemently." Fulbert straightway broke his faith 
and divulged the marriage. Whereupon, when 
questioned by the curious, the young wife, 
thoughtful only of her husband's welfare, de- 
nied the report absolutely ! Abelard weakly con- 

133 



HIDDEN EARS 



nived in this denial by removing her from Paris 
to the convent of Argent euil; whereupon her 
infuriated relatives wreaked vengeance upon him 
in an unspeakably shameful manner, that left 
him forever a crushed and broken man. 

Veil and Cowl. — Ordering Heloise to take the 
veil at Argenteuil, he himself sought seclusion 
in the monastery of St. Denis. But his students 
followed him. After several years of restless 
life at St. Denis, he endeavored to bury himself 
in the hermit life of the desert. But " no sooner 
was his place of retreat known than he was fol- 
lowed into the wilderness by hosts of students 
of all ranks, who lived in tents, slept on the 
ground, and underwent every kind of hardship 
in order to listen to him." To the establishment 
thus founded he gave the suggestive name of 
" The Paraclete," The Comforter. 

His ecclesiastical enemies had long been nu- 
merous and exceeding bitter, for the brilliant 
monk was charged with heresy, in an age when 
orthodoxy was everything. These made his 
wrecked life a torture. Restlessly retiring from 
The Paraclete, he once again sought quiet, this 
time as abbot of the bleak monastery of St. Gil- 
das. Upon taking this step he made over the 
property of his deserted establishment to the 
abbess Heloise, who, with her nuns, had been 
turned homeless into the world through the in- 

134 



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veterate hatred of her husband's foes. Here she 
spent the remainder of her life, surviving the 
unfortunate Abelard more than twenty years. 

Calamities. — He was most miserable at St. 
Gildas. Wherever he turned, in fact, cloud upon 
cloud settled thick and dark before him. After 
nine years of painful struggle in this abbotship, 
he endeavored once more to find eremite re- 
tirement, and it was under such circumstances 
that he wrote the pitiful " Story of my Calami- 
ties." This little narrative fell into the hands 
of his ever faithful wife, whereupon ensued a 
correspondence, which, for genuine tragic pathos 
and human interest, is said to be without an 
equal in the literature of the world. For it 
chanced that the intellectual gifts of Heloise 
were no less unusual than those which distin- 
guished her both for beauty of person and for 
the unselfish devotion of her affections. Once 
when the French philosopher, Cousin, was asked 
who was the most lovable woman of history, he 
answered, " Heloise, that noble creature who 
loved like a Saint Theresa, wrote sometimes like 
a Seneca, and whose charm must have been 
irresistible, since she charmed Saint Bernard 
himself." 

Defeat. — After several years of troubled se- 
clusion the tumultuous Abelard was impelled to 
return once more to the arena of his former tri- 

135 



HIDDEN EARS 



umphs, at Paris ; but now at length he was des- 
tined to meet the gladiator who was to put an 
end to his astonishing and erratic career. We 
have dwelt thus long upon the life of Abelard, 
not only because of its deep human interest, but 
also in order to bring out the complete contrast 
between him and the only man that ever van- 
quished him, the ascetic Abbot of Clairvaux. 
After his defeat the condemned and excommu- 
nicated Abelard found final asylum in the hos- 
pitable abbey of Cluny. After two years of 
humble prayer and penance, he died, broken- 
hearted, at the age of sixty- three. Although 
despised and outcast then, the development of 
subsequent centuries has shown that in many 
of his fundamental positions he was simply in 
advance of his age, the keenness of his pene- 
tration piercing a future which to less brilliant 
eyes was veiled. 

Abelard's Character. — His character has been 
well summed up by Thomas Davidson. " He 
was one of the most brilliant and variously 
gifted men that ever lived, a sincere lover of 
truth and champion of freedom. But, unfor- 
tunately, his extraordinary personal beauty and 
charm of manner made him the object of so 
much attention and adulation that he soon be- 
came unable to live without seeing himself mir- 
rored in the admiration and love of others. 

136 



BERNARD 



Hence his restlessness, irritability, craving for 
publicity, fondness for dialectic triumph, and 
inability to live in fruitful obscurity ; hence, too, 
his intrigue with Heloise, his continual strug- 
gles and disappointments, his final humiliation 
and tragic end. Not having conquered the 
world, he cannot claim the crown of the mar- 
tyr." His most recent biographer concludes 
with the eloquent words, " Such as he is, gifted 
with a penetrating mind, and led by a humanist 
ideal that touched few of his contemporaries, 
pathetically irresolute, and failing because the 
fates had made him the hero of a great drama 
and ironically denied him the hero's strength, 
he deserves at least to be drawn forth from the 
too deep shadow of a crude and unsympathetic 
tradition." 

The Final Scene. — Legend says that when the 
body of the noble Heloise was at last placed in 
the monolith coffin beside his own, he opened 
his arms and clasped her in a close embrace. In 
death, at least, they were not divided. The 
cemetery of Pere Lachaise, in Paris, is continu- 
ally visited by crowds of men and women who 
take wreaths and flowers to lay in solemn pity 
upon the tombs of these who loved " not wisely, 
but too well," and afterwards endeavored to 
expiate their folly by lives of the most piteous 
sacrifice. For them, the only refuge from the 

i37 



HIDDEN EARS 



world was in the cloister. No other shelter was 
offered by that dark age to souls tortured with 
the guilt of sin. Lonely in separation from each 
other, from their friends, and from God, they 
could only look from the prison of their con- 
vent walls towards the sweet spiritual liberty of 
that heavenly city whose builder and maker is 
God. We can imagine them, in the sunset time 
of their lives, chanting from their separate sta- 
tions that sad " Vesper Hymn of Abelard," 
which voices the inner depths of spiritual long- 
ing and of earthly resignation : 

" Oh, what shall be, Oh, when shall be that holy Sab- 
bath day, 

Which heavenly care shall ever keep and celebrate 
alway, 

When rest is found for weary limbs, when labor hath 
reward, 

When everything for evermore is joyful in the Lord! 

" The true Jerusalem above, the holy town, is there, 
Whose duties are so full of joy, whose joy so free 

from care; 
Where disappointment cometh not to check the longing 

heart, 
And where the heart in ecstasy, hath gained her better 

part. 

" There, there, secure from every ill, in freedom we 
shall sing 
The songs of Zion, hindered here by days of suffering, 
And unto Thee, our gracious Lord, our praises shall 

confess 
That all our sorrow hath been good, and Thou by pain 
canst bless." 

138 



BERNARD 



3. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX 

Abelard's great antagonist was born in the 
year 1091, in the Burgundian castle of his 
knightly father, Tescelin. 

Feudalism. — Tescelin was a brave soldier in 
the service of his feudal lord, the Duke of Bur- 
gundy. The institution of feudalism speaks 
eloquently of the character of the age into which 
Bernard was born. We need not concern our- 
selves, indeed, with the question of its origin, 
which has so long been a subject of controversy 
among historical scholars. Undoubtedly it grew 
slowly out of the peculiar genius of the Ger- 
manic tribes. But feudalism, which had hitherto 
been marked by a very gradual growth, leaped 
suddenly to complete maturity in the tenth cen- 
tury; and the chief occasion for this hurried 
consummation was the chaos of the times. Self- 
preservation being the first law of nature, it 
follows that, with the decay of the empire that 
had served for the protection of the people, they 
should erect defences for themselves. And this 
was especially necessitated by the barbarian in- 
vasions. Feudalism was standing ready for 
completion as a system of defence. The princi- 
ple upon which it rested is extremely simple, — 
the obligation of protection on the one hand, and 
of service on the other. Out of the operation 

139 



HIDDEN EARS 



of this principle chivalry finally emerged, but 
at the period with which we are now concerned 
there was little of the chivalrous in feudalism. 
A baron would erect upon some solitary spot a 
towering castle, impregnable from the assaults 
of the fiercest enemies. About the base would 
be grouped the huts of the humble folk who 
served him, simply in return for his protecting 
power. As these serfs possessed no sort of 
guarantee of rights, they were constantly sub- 
jected to the oppression of a master whose na- 
tive roughness was made the more uncouth and 
cruel by his despotic powers. Frequently these 
masters' became little else than robbers, living 
by lust and pillage, their servitors doing the part 
of hireling brigands. Voltaire has sketched the 
picture at a stroke. " Each castle became the 
capital of a little kingdom of brigands, in the 
midst of desolate towns and depopulated fields." 
Dr. Storrs says that no other testimony appears 
to him so impressive of the awful evil and peril 
of the times as does the fact that this enormous 
and oppressive establishment was the only bar- 
rier that Europe could raise against barbarism 
and paganism when Charlemagne's plans had 
failed of success. 

Tescelin. — Tescelin, however, belonged to the 
better class of the barons, — to that rare class 
of mediaeval people of whom Luther speaks in 

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BERNARD 



his Commentary on the Galatians. " Some there 
were," he says, " who walked in simplicity and 
humbleness of heart, thinking the monks and 
friars, and such only as were anointed of bish- 
ops, to be religious and holy, and themselves 
to be profane and secular, not worthy to be com- 
pared unto these/' Contemporary accounts 
agree that Tescelin was a just man, a brave 
though modest soldier, a real knight. 

Aletta. — But the sweet lady Aletta was the 
parent to whom Bernard owed most, both for 
his inherited disposition and for those early in- 
fluences which inclined him ever afterwards to 
desire the attainment of the beauty of holiness. 
This beauty was strikingly exemplified in her 
saintly life. Having been deterred by her pa- 
rents from entering the only " refuge from the 
world" provided by her age, upon becoming a 
wife she introduced a sort of monastic rule into 
her own household, which she made a centre of 
beneficence and general kindliness. She fre- 
quently went out from her castle in humble 
ministry among the poor, doing for the needy 
and the thankless all menial tasks, not ashamed 
to become " the servant of all," even of her own 
servants. And yet she did by no means, in a 
mistaken zeal, forget the affairs of her own 
household. In a time when it was the custom 
for noble ladies to give the keeping of their 

141 



HIDDEN EARS 



children into inferior hands, she insisted upon 
mothering her own brood of seven, " believing 
that with the mother's milk somewhat of the 
mother's spirit might be infused." These chil- 
dren she devoutly dedicated to the service of 
God, and especially believed that her third son, 
Bernard, would some day become a fearless 
champion of the truth, as, indeed, he did. Who 
shall say that this result was not in great meas- 
ure due to his knowledge of his devout mother's 
reiterated faith? She died while Bernard was 
still a lad. Repeating with her final breath the 
beautiful prayers of the litany for the dying, 
after her voice had failed and broken she yet 
used her last atom of strength to trace with 
wan hand the figure of the Saviour's cross. 
Many times in his writings does the great abbot 
reveal the tenderest reverence for the memory 
of this holy mother of his youth, whose in- 
fluence through him on the world cannot be 
estimated. 

The Youthful Choice. — The lad grew into a 
young manhood of singular and delicate beauty. 
Fair-haired, tall, and slender, " with wonderful 
dove-like eyes," the rich endowments of his 
mind and character were eloquently portrayed 
by the corresponding dowry of his person. 
Bright pathways opened before him in different 
directions. With splendid qualities of leader- 

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ship and with marked magnetism of manner, he 
could easily have become great either as a sol- 
dier or as a statesman. Besides, there were the 
schools, and the church, with promise of ele- 
gant leisure and rich emolument in either. But 
from all of these starry paths the young noble 
turned resolutely away, choosing the path to 
the cloister. He had yet to learn that the preva- 
lent practice of convent life was very different 
from its theory. To him the life of a monk 
meant the life of a truly religious devotee. De- 
siring to consecrate all of his powers to God, 
the highest means he knew to that end was sacri- 
fice, penance, meditation, prayer; the immersion 
of his human nature, through strict self-morti- 
fication, into mystical communion with the Di- 
vine. 

Citeaux. — So absorbed was the young Ber- 
nard in the glory of this idea, and so great was 
his gift of persuasive speech, that he succeeded 
in inducing thirty other young men, including 
all five of his own brothers, to accompany him 
into the monastery of Citeaux, which he entered 
at the age of twenty-two. He might as easily 
have entered the famous and wealthy monastery 
of Cluny, where he would have been received 
with open arms and extended honors ; but with 
characteristic intensity of spirit he chose rather 
this poor and bleak establishment, which had 

i43 



HIDDEN EARS 



been in existence for only fifteen years. " To 
rise at two o'clock in the morning and chant 
the prayer-offices of the church until nine; to 
do hard manual labor until two, when the sole 
meal of the day was taken ; to labor again until 
nightfall and sing the vespers until an early 
bed-time hour, — such was the Cistercian's daily 
observance of his vows of poverty, chastity, and 
obedience." Yet even these austere exercises 
did not satisfy Bernard's spiritual enthusiasm, 
who greatly enfeebled his body by superfluous 
exercise of the most strenuous discipline. The 
example of his pious life was soon felt beyond 
the circle of his immediate acquaintance, and the 
little monastery became so crowded that before 
two years had passed as many " swarms" had 
been sent out to found new abbeys. He himself, 
at the early age of twenty- four, was chosen as 
leader of the third party, consisting of twelve 
young monks, representing the twelve apostles, 
" while Bernard at the head, bearing the cross, 
and leading in a solemn chant, was to them in 
the place of the Master." 

Clairvaux. — The young abbot led his devoted 
followers nearly a hundred miles into the heart 
of a wild, sombre, chilly forest, the valley of 
Clairvaux, known also as " The Valley of 
Wormwood." After years of the most patient 
toil, the industrious monks transformed this 

144 



BERNARD 



wilderness into a nest of rich rural beauty, 
wherein with their own hands they had built 
a complete monastical establishment; but "the 
privations which they suffered while performing 
such labor nearly pass the bounds of belief." 
For many years their only food was barley 
bread, with broth made from boiled beech-leaves. 
Their leader's asceticism was at all times most 
extreme. His body wore to the thinness of a 
spectre. Such was the cruelty of his self-in- 
flicted penances that his life became that of a 
wretched invalid, " not having health enough 
in a year to suffice an ordinary man for a week." 
He so crucified the senses as to completely lose 
the power of taste, drinking oil instead of water 
without knowledge of the difference, and being 
unable to distinguish between the flavor of but- 
ter and raw blood. Only once was he forced by 
his friends, and then almost with violence, to 
leave his abbey for rest and recuperation, dwell- 
ing alone for a year in a mean hut by the high- 
way, where a visitor found him " exulting as 
in the joys of Paradise." " He was not alone, 
for God was with him, and the guardianship of 
holy angels." Bernard remained abbot of Clair- 
vaux until his death at the age of sixty-two, 
steadily refusing numerous offers of advance- 
ment. Under his direction the monastery be- 
came always larger in numbers and wider in 

10 145 



HIDDEN EARS 



influence. " Colonies went from it in large 
numbers, an average of more than four in each 
year, into different countries ; its fame for holi- 
ness, wisdom, and the highest exhibition of the 
virtue and grace of monastic life rapidly filled 
Christian Europe. " 

Monastic Abuses. — There was sad need for 
such an exhibition among the monasteries. We 
have his own biting description of the abuses 
prevailing at Cluny. " Nothing is done about 
the Scriptures, nothing for the salvation of souls. 
The jaws are as much occupied with dainties 
as the ears are with nonsense, and, wholly in- 
tent upon eating, you know not moderation in 
it. As to water, what can I say, when no one 
takes water, even mixed with wine? As soon 
as we become monks, we all have infirm stom- 
achs, and do not neglect the needed injunction 
of the apostle about taking wine, — only, I know 
not on what ground, omitting the ' little' which 
his precept contains !"• At the .same period, the 
sobered Abelard, entering the abbey of St. 
Denis, described it as a place "of very worldly 
and most disgraceful life." The condition of 
St. Gildas was even worse. Each " celibate" 
monk actually had a wife and family living on 
the monastic estate. " The outlying farms and 
cottages were colonized with the women and 
the little monklings," says Father McCabe; 

146 



BERNARD 



" there was no cemetery of infant bones near 
St. Gildas." As for the nuns, Abelard's sermon 
on " Susannah" gives a frightful impression of 
the ordinary nunnery of his times. It is surely 
a striking testimony to the intrinsic power of 
righteousness that in an age when even the re- 
sorts of holiness had become veritable dens of 
iniquity, Bernard should be able to rule prince 
and pope and people by the sheer strength of his 
saintly spirit and the force of his consecrated 
will. 

Bernard's Power: William of Aquitaine. — 
There are many evidences of his marvellous 
power over evil men. Perhaps the most striking 
was his experience with William, Duke of Aqui- 
taine, " a man of vast stature and of almost 
gigantic strength, handsome and haughty, with 
a peculiarly violent, sensual, and intractable 
temper." In his anger he was like some fero- 
cious beast, and woe to the creature that crossed 
him! Displeased with certain of the bishops in 
his feudal domains, he had deposed them from 
their sees. Bernard, in two interviews, had 
failed to make any impression upon the duke, — 
it was " almost like reasoning with a tropical 
storm." Especially was William infuriated with 
the Bishop of Poitiers, having sworn a mighty 
oath never to return him to his throne. One 
day, during the celebration of the mass, Bernard 

i47 



HIDDEN EARS 



perceived the intractable count standing near the 
door of the church. After the consecration of 
the host, he took the paten in his hand, and, 
advancing upon the astonished ruffian, with up- 
lifted arm and flashing eye, addressed him with 
the words, " We have besought you, and you 
have spurned us. This congregation of the ser- 
vants of God, meeting you elsewhere, have 
entreated you, and you have despised them. 
Behold, here cometh to you the Virgin's Son, 
Head and Lord of the church which you per- 
secute! Your Judge is here, at whose Name 
every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and 
things on earth, and things under the earth! 
Your Judge is here, into Whose hands your 
soul is to pass! Will you spurn Him, also? 
Will you despise Him, as you have despised 
His servants?" 

A dread silence succeeded these burning 
words. Then the great lord, his stubborn spirit 
suddenly crushed and broken, fell grovelling and 
humbled at the feet of this ghost-like creature, 
whom he could have slain with less exertion 
than Bernard must have expended in the pluck- 
ing of a tendril from one of his grape-vines at 
Clairvaux. Beckoning William to his feet, the 
fearless little abbot bade him kiss the deposed 
bishop and give him back his throne. This he 
meekly did ; and so powerful was the impression 

148 



BERNARD 



of that hour that the terrible soldier devoted 
himself thenceforward to a humble religious life, 
dying at last while on a penitential pilgrimage. 

His Power with the Popes. — The Abbot of 
Clairvaux lived at a time when the papacy was 
attaining the very acme of its temporal power. 
This, in effect, came to pass under the great Pope 
Hildebrand, Gregory VII, who in the year 1077 
gave a dramatic illustration of his supremacy 
over the state by forcing the German emperor, 
Henry IV., to stand for three days barefoot in 
the bitter snow outside the castle of Canossa, 
awaiting the papal pleasure for his absolution. 
Yet Bernard was above the popes. The time 
came when the single voice of this little invalid 
actually decided who should sit upon the papal 
throne. Moreover, it was only by virtue of his 
prompt and fearless action at that time that Eu- 
rope was saved from the bloody terrors of a 
religious war. There were two claimants of 
the papal office, arrayed and armed the one 
against the other. One of them, Anacletus, was 
a vile man, fit to succeed the worst of his in- 
famous predecessors. But his election had been 
technically more regular than that of his rival, 
and he possessed far greater wealth and influ- 
ence. This he did not hesitate to increase by 
robbing certain of the great churches in Rome 
of their priceless treasures. On the other hand, 

149 



HIDDEN EARS 



Innocent was a man of far purer character, with 
the support of the better elements of the hier- 
archy. It seemed that Europe would certainly 
be plunged into a terrible religious conflict, the 
horrors of which it is impossible for us of this 
day adequately to appreciate. To avert such a 
catastrophe the French King, Louis VI., con- 
vened a national council, surpassing in splendid 
impressiveness any assemblage that could possi- 
bly be called to-day. But when the dignitaries 
assembled they were helpless; they knew not 
what to do. There was no leadership, no clear- 
ness of view, no conviction of judgment, nor 
boldness to act. So, what did they do? Why, 
these resplendent princes sent down to the se- 
cluded monastery of Clairvaux, and summoned 
its abbot from his penances and his work among 
the grape-vines, to come decide the question for 
them! When he spoke for Innocent, they lis- 
tened as though it were the voice of God. Such 
is the power of a simple-hearted, strong, and 
unselfish holiness, even over unholy men. 

His Power with Kings. — But Bernard's work 
was not ended when he spoke before the council 
in behalf of Innocent II. The other rulers of 
Europe must be made to acquiesce in the deci- 
sion ; whereas Henry of England, with many of 
his English bishops, and King Lothaire, of Ger- 
many, had warmly favored Anacletus. These 

150 



BERNARD 



were proud and stubborn monarchs. But Ber- 
nard plunged upon them, with all of his inten- 
sity of righteous conviction and wonderful power 
of persuasive speech, and they bowed before his 
onslaught, bending their royal wills to the will 
of this invalid monk. An unknown writer has 
eloquently said that thus Bernard hewed a road 
for Innocent back to Rome, " through kings, 
prelates, statesmen, and intriguers, with the 
same unflinching steadfastness with which he 
had cut a way to the sunlight for his vines and 
vegetables in the Valley of Wormwood." 

His Unselfishness. — What reward did he seek 
for such services? None whatever. He stead- 
ily refused all offers of preferment. For exam- 
ple, the people of Milan, carried away with 
enthusiasm for his strength and boldness, 
entreated him to become their archbishop. At 
last, to their almost violent insistence, he made 
the whimsical answer, " To-morrow I will mount 
my horse, and if he shall bear me beyond the 
walls, I shall hold myself free; but if he re- 
main within the gates, I will accept the charge 
and be your pastor." It was the only satisfac- 
tion they could get from him, and they clutched 
at the straw. The next day, mounting his horse, 
he galloped with all haste outside the walls, back 
to his lonely abbey, while all Italy was ready to 
worship him. 

151 



HIDDEN EARS 



His Boldness. — The extreme unselfishness of 
his life, coupled with complete fearlessness, made 
him able to become even the monitor of the 
popes, after he had had such weight in selecting 
them. History preserves letters which he wrote 
to these " vicars of Christ," couched in the terms 
of a superior writing to his subordinates! He 
did not hesitate to address them with the utmost 
boldness. When Innocent II. broke faith with 
him, he demanded, " Who shall execute justice 
for me upon you? If I had any judge before 
whom I might cite you, I would instantly show 
you — I speak this as one travailing in pain — 
what you have deserved at my hands!" Nor 
did he hesitate to admonish Eugenius III. to 
remember " that thou art but a man, and let 
the fear of Him who taketh away the breath 
of princes be continually before thine eyes." 
" Art thou ornamented with badges, shining with 
jewels, brilliant in silks, crowned with plumes, 
stuffed out with gold and silver embroideries? 
If thou shalt expel from contemplation all these 
things, so swiftly passing, and soon utterly to 
vanish like morning mists, there will appear to 
thee a man, naked, poor, needy, miserable, 
grieving because he is a man, blushing at his 
nakedness, deploring his birth; a man born to 
labor, not to honor; born of a woman, and so 
under condemnation; living only a little while, 

152 



BERNARD 



and therefore full of fear ; replete with miseries, 
and weeping because of them." Is it not a 
striking proof of the simple-hearted bravery of 
this man that in an age when might made right, 
and when men of all classes fawned at the feet 
of the mighty Pope of Europe, Bernard could 
dare, without fear or favor, and without even 
seeming to suspect that he was doing anything 
unusual, — could dare to rebuke and admonish 
the supreme pontiff even as a father might deal 
with his son ? 

His Eloquence: The Second Crusade. — Al- 
lusion has more than once been made to Ber- 
nard's power of persuasive speech. As Abelard 
was the leading thinker of his time, so Bernard 
was its greatest orator. It was his resistless 
eloquence that impelled the Second Crusade 
(1146). The first, preached by Peter the Her- 
mit and Pope Urban II. (1095), had resulted 
in disaster. Bernard, once persuaded that a 
second effort was demanded by " the will of 
God," threw himself whole-souled into the mus- 
tering of the mighty army. With vivid lan- 
guage he depicted the outrages wrought upon 
the holy places of Jerusalem by blasphemous 
Mahometans, appealing to the people to become 
soldiers of the cross for the wresting of the an- 
cient capital of Christendom out of the hands 
of the heathen. The multitudes at Vezaly were 

153 



HIDDEN EARS 



so carried away by his moving oratory that he 
had to tear his own robes in pieces to satisfy 
their demand for crosses. When he came to 
argue with Conrad of Germany, the emperor 
contemptuously declared that he had but little 
taste for a holy war. But the intrepid preacher 
spoke of the judgment-seat, when Christ should 
say to this selfish monarch, " O man, how have 
/ failed in aught of my duty towards thee?" 
Then, as Bernard dwelt upon the Christian re- 
sponsibilities entailed by Conrad's riches and 
power, the great king burst into tears, exclaim- 
ing that he was ready to follow whithersoever 
the Lord might call him. Hardly had Conrad 
thus spoken when the entire multitude took 
up the cry, " Praise to God !" and Bernard 
sealed emperor and people with the cross. So, 
at last, Conrad of Germany, with Louis VII. of 
France, Queen Eleanor, and many noble ladies 
of both realms, set out in splendor at the head 
of a vast host of enthusiastic crusaders. The 
wretched disaster that befell them brought to 
Bernard the greatest bitterness of his life. Yet, 
when the tattered remnants of the splendid 
army were flung back into Europe in miser- 
able defeat and shame, his only answer to the 
execrations that men heaped upon him was 
the gentle message, " Better that I be blamed 
than God." 

154 



BERNARD 



The Conflict with Abelard. — It was six years 
before this that Bernard had gained the most 
brilliant personal victory of his life, and at the 
same time wrought his most lasting influence 
upon the history of the church. This was in 
his conflict with the greatest scholar of the age, 
Pierre Abelard. Enough already has been 
written to show the extreme contrast between 
these two men, both in their outer and their 
inner lives. It was simply inevitable that two 
such antagonistic leaders should eventually 
clash shields; we can only wonder that the 
struggle was so long delayed. Bernard, as has 
been clearly shown, was a religious mystic. And 
of no less vital importance in the control of his 
career was his profound sense of veneration, his 
respect for organized authority. On the other 
hand, Abelard was an ecclesiastical free-lance. 
He respected authority only in so far as it could 
justify its existence to his reason, which was his 
mistress. As Bernard said, nothing was too 
high for him. " He lifts his head to heaven, 
examines the lofty things of God, and returns 
to report to us the ineffable words which it were 
not lawful for a man to utter." Cousin has 
called him the father of modern rationalism. 
Far in advance of his times, the keenness of his 
views cut with the sharpest edge across the in- 
grained beliefs of the middle ages. Shortly 

iS5 



HIDDEN EARS 



after he took the cowl at St. Denis he had been 
tried, albeit unfairly, for the heretical teachings 
of one of his works, and compelled to burn the 
book with his own hands. And, although after- 
wards receiving ecclesiastical vindication for 
that particular offence, the orthodoxy of the 
church always held him and his methods under 
the most grave suspicion. Twenty years passed, 
however, before the second trial, resulting in his 
utter humiliation, and very probably in his death, 
which ensued within the brief space of two years. 
The chief subject involved was the doctrine of 
the Trinity. 

It is scarcely just to insist upon judging all of 
the methods which Bernard employed against 
the aged scholar, by our own modern standards 
of fairness. Knowing that he was coming into 
conflict with a dialectician of almost superhuman 
resource and skill, he perhaps at times made a 
freer use of " diplomacy" than this critical age 
would justify. For example, Bernard professed 
that his attention had first been called to the 
errors of Abelard by a letter he had recently 
received from William of Thierry; whereas it 
now seems perfectly clear that Bernard had 
known of these errors for some time, and tolera- 
bly clear that he did in some degree, at least, con- 
struct William's letter himself. But it is a cheap 
business to pick holes in the robe of a saint ; and 

156 



BERNARD 



certainly it is not fair to mutilate a twelfth cen- 
tury cowl with a twentieth century bodkin. 
Bernard, above all, believed that he was dealing 
with an arch enemy of the church that he loved 
as his own soul, and his age knew of no standard 
of holiness which prescribed rigorous fairness of 
treatment for an assailant of the orthodox faith. 
Bernard has been accused of personal prejudices 
against his brilliant adversary. The fact that 
three of Abelard's bitterest enemies had become 
Bernard's close friends might seem to lend color 
to this suggestion; but, on the whole, it may 
be dismissed as an entirely unworthy explanation 
of the struggle. As Storrs says, " Theirs was 
not an individual controversy. The men repre- 
sented colliding tendencies. Two systems, two 
ages, came into shattering conflict in their per- 
sons. It was heart against head ; a fervent sanc- 
tity against the critical and rationalizing temper ; 
an adoring faith in mysterious truths, believed to 
have been announced by God, against the dis- 
solving and destructive analysis which would 
force those truths into subjection to the human 
understanding. It was the whole series of 
church fathers, fitly and signally represented by 
Bernard, against recent thinkers who questioned 
everything, who refused to be bound by any 
authority, who valued Aristotle as superior to 
Augustine." It was the church against scholas- 

i57 



HIDDEN EARS 



ticism, the institution against the individual, 
authority against liberty, religion against reason. 
And it is well both for religion and for reason 
that in this particular conflict liberty failed. 

The letter of William of Thierry, written after 
Abelard's final return to his old work of lec- 
turing in Paris, mentioned thirteen points of 
heresy in his doctrinal position. Some of these 
theses are startling even to us of the present 
day, used though we be to the " new theology." 
What must have been their effect upon the mys- 
tical and mediaeval Bernard? Convinced that 
the church was being wounded in the house of 
her friends, he set himself for her defence. But 
the methods he now adopted were strictly peace- 
ful and Scriptural. First he visited Abelard in 
private, with a " friendly and familiar admoni- 
tion." The next step was a warning in the pres- 
ence of witnesses, Abelard's own students, whom 
the Abbot of Claivaux boldly adjured to burn 
the works of their master. The third and final 
step, according to the Scriptural rule (Matthew 
xviii. 17), would be a public denunciation, as 
Abelard knew full well. This move he deter- 
mined to forestall by the demand for a public 
trial, when Bernard and he might appear before 
a council of the church, in hand-to-hand conflict. 
The prospect of such a conflict between the two 
great luminaries of France stirred the lively 

158 



BERNARD 



imagination of the French people, and all were 
eager for the fray. The Cathedral of Sens was 
appointed as the place, and the Monday after 
Trinity as the time. Abelard, his old proud 
spirit flaming up within him once more, per- 
chance looked forward with enthusiasm to a re- 
newal of the victories of his youth. He well 
knew himself to be the most skilful dialectician 
and master of rhetoric in Europe. How could 
the monk of Clairvaux, orator though he was, 
withstand his peerless powers? And, to tell the 
truth, Bernard seemed not a little disturbed at 
the unexpected turn of affairs. He had never 
contemplated a wordy battle with the great mas- 
ter. So at first he positively declined to enter 
the lists, pleading, " I am but a boy beside him, 
and he a warrior from his youth!" 

But when the day arrived, Bernard was on 
hand. It was the 4th of June, 1141. The 
Cathedral of Sens was filled to its doors with a 
brilliant if somewhat motley throng. Abelard's 
old students had gathered from every quarter. 
Bernard had seen to it that hosts of his own fol- 
lowers should be present. But the majority of 
the audience were attracted simply by the ex- 
citing prospect of a battle between giants. King 
Louis sat, " expectant and stupid," on the royal 
throne, with a dazzling array of knights and 
nobles standing behind him. Opposite these sat 

i59 



HIDDEN EARS 



the lords of the church, in all the gorgeous in- 
signia of their office. " Shaven monks, with the 
white wool of Citeaux or the black tunic of St. 
Benedict, mingled with the throng of canons, 
clerics, scholastics, wandering masters, ragged, 
cosmopolitan students, and citizens of Sens and 
Paris in their gay holiday attire." 

Presently Bernard entered, clad in his flowing 
white tunic ; his head bowed, his eyes cast down 
in serious humility. Then in strode Abelard, 
" with head erect and proud mien, startling thos* 
who looked on his worn and scornful face," — 
Abelard, apparently defiant and self-assured in 
the knowledge of his marvellous powers, anxious 
to win his greatest victory, and regain the glory 
of his now uncertain fame. 

Then came a surprise. Bernard had scarcely 
begun to read his calm indictment, when Abe- 
lard suddenly fell into a panic of nervous fright, 
and threw his whole case to the winds by striding 
into the middle of the aisle and shouting out, 
" I will not be judged thus like a criminal ! 
appeal to Rome!" With that he left the cathe- 
dral, his prestige lost, his case prejudged, 
beaten and utterly broken man. Bernard was 
astonished as much as any one; but, quickly 
recovering himself, he insisted with his usual 
coolness on the prosecution of the case, which 
resulted in the condemnation of Abelard, with 

160 



BERNARD 



the terrific penalty of excommunication. Thus 
the honor of the church was vindicated and her 
integrity preserved. Thus the power of a single 
man not only quelled without exertion the tumul- 
tuous career of the mighty Abelard, but also, 
through this act, gave an effective check to the 
growing spirit of free inquiry, doubtless prevent- 
ing religious revolution at an unpropitious sea- 
son, and leaving the way open for a peaceful 
reformation when the church should be ripe for 
it after the lapse of four centuries. The world 
owes Bernard a debt of gratitude for this nega- 
tive service of his, which was unquestionably the 
largest single achievement of his crowded and 
mighty life. 

Summary of Bernard's Character. — What, in 
summing up, shall be said of this wonderful life? 
One who has lately written of Bernard with but 
little of sympathy or appreciation, describes him 
as " a frail, tense, absorbed, dominant little man. 
The face was white and worn with suffering, the 
form enfeebled with disease and exacting ner- 
vous exaltation ; but there was a light of supreme 
strength and of joy in the penetrating eyes. He 
was a man who saw the Golden City with so 
near, so living a vision, that he was wholly im- 
patient of the trivial pleasures of earth; a man 
formed in the mould of world-conquerors and 
world-politicians, in whose mind accident had 
ii 161 



HIDDEN EARS 



substituted a supernatural for a natural ideal ; a 
man of such intensity and absorption of thought 
that he was almost incapable of admitting a 
doubt as to the correctness of his own judgment 
and purpose, and the folly of all that was opposed 
to it; a man in whom an altruistic ethic might 
transform, or disguise, but could never suppress, 
the demand of the entire nature for self-asser- 
tion. This was Bernard of Clairvaux." A more 
sympathetic writer says, " The marks of Saint 
Bernard's character were sweetness and gentle 
tolerance in the presence of honest opposition, 
and implacable vigor against shams and evil- 
doing. His was a perfect type of well-regu- 
lated individual judgment. His humanity and 
love of poverty were true and unalterable. He 
wrote and spoke with simplicity and directness, 
and with an energy and force of conviction 
which came from absolute command of his 
subject." 

Dr. Storrs, writing in a spirit of the warmest 
enthusiasm, says, in the course of his brilliant 
lectures on " Bernard of Clairvaux," that " a 
man more entirely sincere and unselfish in his 
spirit and aims seems hardly to have lived since 
the Apostles ; and certainly one more free from 
limitations, through any fear of either the craft 
or the violence of men, seems not to me to have 

trodden the earth." 

162 



BERNARD 



His Intellectual Consonance with his Times. 

— The defects of his work arose rather from the 
spirit of his training than out of his own personal 
character. He lived in an age of darkness and 
of travail, in an age which mourned for the past 
that was dead, and groaned in the early birth- 
throes of ideas that should one day revolutionize 
Christendom. It was an age when the forces 
that worked for the development of the kingdom 
of God on earth were hidden and silent, bringing 
forth no fruit to perfection. The ears of corn 
were shaping, but they were not shaped. This 
narrowness and incompleteness of life charac- 
terizes the work of Bernard, which was conserva- 
tive and restraining in its influence, curbing the 
explosive and untimely exuberance of the pre- 
cocious Abelards and Arnolds of Brescia. Both 
Abelard and Bernard were monks and scholas- 
tics. These two institutions which they repre- 
sented were, as we have seen, tending steadily 
towards the eventual reformation of the church. 
But in Abelard they had shot to a premature 
fruitage, which could not endure in the darkness 
and chill of the dark ages. Bernard was a 
natural and normal monk of the highest type, 
not only in the religious sense, but as an indi- 
vidual who was stronger than the papacy. He 
did not break with his times, hence his career was 
not an abortion. His scholasticism, also, by com- 

163 



HIDDEN EARS 



bining with a reverent use of reason a stringent 
regard for constituted authority, was truer to the 
development of scholasticism than that of Abe- 
lard, which represented its logical outcome, not 
yet due. Bernard does not stand for retrogres- 
sion. In him there was a real progress, a real 
development towards the goal of the kingdom. 
But this progress was natural, therefore con- 
strained and slow, partaking of the spirit of the 
age in which he lived, the age of the hidden ears. 
His work appears the more remarkable when we 
reflect that the nutriment of these shaping ears, 
of the church itself at that time, was not the 
sincere, unmixed milk of the Word, but a strange 
commingling of stalwart faith and grovelling 
superstition, of religion and gross worldliness. 

His Moral Contrast with his Times. — Ber- 
nard can only be appreciated at his full value 
when we keep fixedly in mind the character of 
the times in which he lived. When this is kept 
in mind, his personal character shines against the 
gloomy background of the dark ages as one of 
the brightest in all the annals of the saints. In 
a time when the most hideous corruptions dis- 
figured the holy church of God, he succeeded in 
bringing into perfect maturity " the white flower 
of a blameless life." The chilling breath of those 
dark times could not lessen the flame of his in- 
tense devotion, which still imparts itself to other 

164 



BERNARD 



Christian hearts in such noble hymns as " Jesus, 
Thou Joy of Loving Hearts/' " O Sacred Head, 
now Wounded," and, 

" Jesus, the very thought of Thee, 
With sweetness fills my breast!" 

Of him it may still be said that " his thoughts 
have often the same power as hunger or thirst. 
They absorb the whole man whom they beset, 
and throw him with passionate decision in one 
direction." What passage in Thomas a Kempis 
or John Gerhard has equal warmth or tenderness 
with the following expression of the ecstatic con- 
templation of Christ? " If thou writest, nothing 
therein hath savor to me, unless I read Jesus in 
it. If thou discoursest or conversest, nothing 
there is agreeable to me unless in it also Jesus 
resounds. Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody 
in the ear, a song of jubilee in the heart. He is 
our medicine, as well. Is any among you sad- 
dened? Let Jesus enter into his heart, and 
thence leap to his lips, and lo! at the rising 
illumination of His Name every cloud flies away, 
serenity returns." 

The End. — Bernard died in his monastery at 
the age of sixty-two years. Agonizing brethren 
crowded about the death-bed of the Abbot of 
Clairvaux, and he, sorrowing for their sorrow, 
declared himself in a strait, not knowing whether 

165 



HIDDEN EARS 



to choose to stay with them or to go and be with 
Christ, " which is far better." His last breath 
was exhausted in committing this decision to the 
will of God. " Happy transition !" writes one 
who saw him die; " from labor unto rest, from 
hope to fulfilment, from combat to crown, from 
death unto life, from faith to knowledge, from 
the far wandering to the native home, from the 
world to the Father!" 

Yes, it was possible, even in that day of the 
myriad withered branches, for a soul to lie close 
to the Heart of the Great Vine, and so, abiding 
in Him, to bear fruit. Christ is the heart of the 
church, concerning which, while He said that it 
should not die, " He did not say it should never 
be sick." Nestling and hidden lies the beautiful 
life of Bernard, — a hidden ear of corn. When 
we think of him in his age, of his noble faith and 
unfaltering humility, what are we, that we shrink 
and tremble at every passing cloud? The night 
was over him, yet he never once lost heart. Shall 
we, in this age of the ripening corn, standing in 
the broad light of a newly risen sun, be less brave, 
less true than Bernard ? His bugle-call rings to us 
through the ages : "Arise, thou soldier of Christ ! 
Shake thyself from the dust ! Return to the com- 
bat from which thou hast fled ! Be bolder in the 
battle after this flight, that thou mayest in the 

end be only more gloriously triumphant !" 

166 " 



IV 
RIPENING CORN 

LUTHER 



i. THE AWAKENING OF EUROPE 

The Crusades. — With the twelfth century, 
while the dawn from the dark ages was as yet 
unbroken, appeared that romantic and mysteri- 
ous movement of history known as the Crusades. 
All Europe had been sleeping; not the sleep of 
sweet rest and pleasant dreams, but the dis- 
tressed, horrid slumber of nightmare. It was the 
age of the power of darkness. Then, in that 
darkest, stillest hour which is just before the 
dawn, a silver bugle sounded, clear and shrill, 
like the call of the chanticleer. It was God's 
breath that filled it. From sea to sea, from land 
to land, it sounded. Men rubbed their eyes; 
leaped to their feet in the darkness; buckled on 
their scabbards ; shouted to the chill gray dawn, 
" It is the will of God !" and rushed, six hundred 
thousand strong, towards the holy city of Jerusa- 
lem, there " to break the heathen and uphold the 
Christ." Seven times the silver bugle sounded. 
Seven times it roused new sleepers to the hurry 
of impetuous warfare. Seven times the sons of 
reawakening Europe flung themselves across the 
seas against the sullen Saracens, who stood like 
a dark wall between them and the holy home of 
their Lord the Christ, — only to be cast back on 
the sodden shores, clotted with the blood of 

169 



RIPENING CORN 



defeat, or else cold corpses. Even children, a 
score of thousand children, mere tender babes, 
piped with their treble voices, " It is the will of 
God!" and sought to redeem, with swords in 
their dimpled hands, the home of the Babe of 
Bethlehem. But they, too, — Oh, pitiful! — were 
lost, a myriad babes in the wood, their only 
shroud the leaves, their only priest the robin. 

" What a catastrophe !" men will say, — have 
said. The Crusades, — what a failure, what a 
vast mistake of history ! But history in the end 
does not make mistakes. When we cannot un- 
derstand her, it is only because we are not wise 
enough. For history is the handmaid of the 
Almighty, and " facts are the finger of God." 
The Crusades? Men of science tell us that to 
every sleeper, in every night, comes a moment 
fraught with the baleful threat of death. The 
tide of the blood is ebbing. The hammer of the 
pulse is silent. The great engine of the heart 
throbs its last and faintest. Then, they tell us, 
unless at that fearful time there come some stir 
of warning to the sleeper, some whispering call 
from the deeps of the darkness to startle the 
engine to its work again, and the pulse to its 
duty, and the blood to its flow, why, the heart 
sleeps forever, and when friends come they find 
a dead man there. So we may say that the call 
to the Crusades saved the life of Europe. Their 

170 



LUTHER 

origin has been a mystery. Historians have 
stood aghast at this vast sudden movement of 
millions towards the same frail sentimental goal. 
But the call to the Crusades was the call of God. 
The sleepers stirred. Their pulses set a-beating 
to the quick throb of war-drums. The sluggish 
blood sprang once more like a brook. The 
Crusaders were defeated, but Europe was saved, 
because she was awake. The darkness was over- 
past. New life came, as always, out of the East 
into the West. From that moment the page of 
history brightens. The period of those strange 
holy wars, apparently so unsuccessful, is precisely 
the period of the dawn from the darkest hour 
that has eclipsed the world since Christ was 
slain, into the requickened life of day. And so, 
in the wiser way, those wars were gloriously suc- 
cessful. God's thoughts are not as man's 
thoughts. He " moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." The call to the Cru- 
sades was a thoughtful, loving device of the great 
watchful Father to save His sleeping children 
from the sleep of death. He made the wrath of 
man to praise Him. 

The Revival of Learning. — A still more 
striking example of this last-mentioned fact re- 
sulted from the taking of Constantinople by the 
Turks, in 1453. That is a date to be remem- 
bered, marking, as it does, the close of the 

171 



RIPENING CORN 



middle ages and the opening of modern history. 
The Turks had turned the tables on the Chris- 
tians. These had failed to wrest the ancient 
capital of their own religion from the heathen; 
the heathen now proceed to wrest the more 
modern capital of the church from the Christians. 
But we can see how the result of this downfall 
of the city of Constantine was divinely ordered 
towards the ultimate reform of the church. For 
the direct outcome of the dreadful conquest of 
Constantinople was the Renaissance, the " re- 
birth" of letters; and the Renaissance was but 
the secular side of the Reformation. 

How, it may be asked, was such an event as 
the mere downfall of a single city so largely pro- 
ductive of the revival of learning? Because the 
capital of the final Grecian empire had been for 
ten centuries the secluded guard-house of the 
Greek classics, which have ever been the foun- 
tain-head of human culture. Within those ex- 
clusive walls the priceless records of a golden 
past were selfishly shut up to the delectation of 
a proud and limited aristocracy of scholars. 
Petrarch, writing in the year 1360, said that 
there were then only eight men in Italy ac- 
quainted with the Hellenic tongue. But when 
the walls of the selfish city fell before the barbaric 
assault of the " unspeakable Turk," the scholarly 

refugees fled with their precious dowry to Chris- 

172 



LUTHER 

tian Europe, and especially to Italy, the most 
precocious of the European nations. The now 
decadent scholasticism had made ready for their 
reception, aided by the work of such new and 
great literary leaders as Dante, Petrarch, and 
Boccaccio. Therefore the result of this classical 
dispersion within a prepared receptive territory 
was like the contact of fire upon tinder. Europe 
suddenly blazed up from mediaeval darkness into 
a splendid revival of learning. 

The Renaissance meant, above all things else, 
the development of the individual; or, as 
Symonds elaborates it, " the attainment of self- 
conscious freedom by the human spirit," " the 
spirit of mankind recovering consciousness and 
the power of self-determination, recognizing the 
beauty of the outer world and of the body 
through art, liberating the reason in science and 
the conscience in religion, restoring culture to 
the intelligence, and establishing the principle of 
religious freedom." This idea of the complete 
development of the human spirit had formed also 
the essence of Greek culture, that perfect fruit 
and flower of a purely human development. We 
have seen how a misdirected conception of Chris- 
tianity opposed this idea, — monasticism, on the 
one hand, by founding itself in the mystical East 
upon a theory of self-annihilation, and the organ- 
ized church, on the other hand, which by the 

i73 



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access of worldly power was able to set itself 
up as a great institution for the absorption of the 
individual. But so strong is the innate thirst for 
self-expression, that we saw monasticism itself 
gradually evolving into a vast school for indi- 
vidual development, particularly through the 
influence of its direct product, scholasticism. 
Scholasticism, indeed, eventually became (as 
Stille says) a tacit universal insurrection against 
authority, of the individual against the institu- 
tion. " It was the swelling of the ocean before 
the storm, a sign of a great awakening of the 
human mind." The storm itself, the awakening, 
was the Renaissance ; but the monks and scholas- 
tics had directly prepared the way for it. 

The Papacy decays. — A negative preparation 
for the coming of this great humanistic revival 
was the decay of that power which had stood for 
the domination of the individual. The final hour 
of papal supremacy had struck just before the 
dawn of the new era. Throughout the thirteenth 
century the prestige of Hildebrand had not been 
lost, but rather advanced; in fact, the period 
between Innocent III. and Boniface VIII. may 
rightly be called " the noonday of papal domin- 
ion." Innocent had contemptuously likened 
the powers of the prince, as compared with his 
own, to the moon as compared with the sun ; and 
Boniface, in his great bull " Unam Sanctam" 

i74 



LUTHER 

(1302), directed against Philip the Fair of 
France, claimed for the church the power both 
to create and depose kings, as it pleased. The 
event proved, however, that this boastful Boni- 
face was to reverse positions with Hildebrand, 
and atone to imperial pride for the insult it had 
suffered at Canossa more than two centuries be- 
fore.* The retaliation was unwitting, but none 
the less severe and real. Philip proving himself 
to be stronger than the Pope, agents of the 
French monarch attacked Boniface in his private 
residence at Anagni, and one of them, inflamed 
at the sight of his king's contemptuous enemy, 
struck the Pope in the face with his mailed fist, 
and would have killed him had he not been hin- 
dered. " The papacy had first shown its power 
by a great dramatic act," says Pennington, " and 
its decline was shown in the same manner. The 
drama of Anagni is to be set against the drama 
of Canossa." 

But Philip was not content with a personal 
victory against a particular pope. His warfare 
did not cease with the death of Boniface, for he 
warred against the papacy itself. Under 
Clement V. ( 1309) he forced the removal of the 
papal seat from Rome to Avignon, a place within 
easy reach of his royal control, thus bringing 

* See page 149. 
175 



RIPENING CORN 



about the bitterly bemoaned " Babylonish Cap- 
tivity," which lasted for seventy-two years. 
This was succeeded by something even more 
disastrous, a papal schism. For at the end of that 
time a rival pope set up his throne in Rome, and 
for thirty years thereafter anathemas were 
fiercely hurled between Rome and Avignon, the 
while the people marvelled to see that these 
terrific papal thunderbolts possessed no power. 
" Confusion worse confounded" finally ensued 
as a result of the Council of Pisa, convoked in 
1409 for the purpose of healing the schism. In- 
stead of accomplishing its object, this council 
succeeded only in electing a third pope, who dis- 
puted with his other two rivals for the title of 
" Vicar of Christ." Even after the Council of 
Constance (1414-1418) had succeeded in healing 
the schism by compelling the three claimants to 
resign in favor of Martin V. as the one supreme 
ruler of Christendom, fresh shame was heaped 
upon the papacy by the personal profligacy of the 
popes, which exceeded anything that the dark 
ages had witnessed. And so, as Freeman sums 
it up, " the papacy sinks through three successive 
stages of degradation. The Babylonish captivity 
of Avignon removed the Roman pontiff from his 
native seat, and converted the vicegerent of 
Christ into the despised hireling of a French 
master. The great schism exhibited to the world 

176 



LUTHER 

the spectacle of a spiritual sovereignty contested, 
like a temporal throne, between selfish and 
worthless disputants. At last the gap is healed, 
and Rome again receives her pontiffs; but she 
receives them only to exhibit the successors of 
Hildebrand and Innocent in the character of 
worldly and profligate Italian princes, bent only 
on the aggrandizement of their families, or at 
best on establishing the pettiest temporal claims 
of the Holy See." Thus, synchronously with 
the birth of the Renaissance, the once splendid 
structure of papal supremacy fell into irretriev- 
able decay, and the downfall of an institution 
made room for the construction of the individual. 
The Councils of Reform.— The Councils of 
Pisa and Constance, with that of Basel in 1439, 
are known as the Three Councils of Reform. 
They were called by the bishops, who realized 
the desperate straits into which the church had 
fallen through the corruption of its head. The 
first was, as we have seen, an abortion. The 
third was scarcely less. But that of Constance 
had great significance, quite apart from the fact 
that it settled the papal schism. Interest was so 
intense that eighteen thousand ecclesiastics were 
in attendance, besides many thousands of 
strangers. It was felt that the power of the 
papacy must be checked; consequently, the as- 
sembled bishops declared the council to be above 
12 177 



RIPENING CORN 



the Pope, " who is under obligation to obey the 
council." This action, although it became prac- 
tically inoperative after a very short interval, had 
great moral effect in undermining the papal in- 
fluence. But the Council of Constance gains still 
greater significance from the part it played in the 
development of the Renaissance. " From it dates 
the dawn of this movement north of the Alps. 
It kindled everywhere a zeal for the discovery 
of manuscripts. It brought scholars of different 
countries face to face, and made the movement 
European." 

The Early Reformers. — Important as these 
things were, the Council of Constance yet has 
its prime interest for the student of church his- 
tory in the fact that it condemned the teachings 
of Wyclif, Hus, and Jerome of Prague, and sen- 
tenced the two last named to the stake. It was 
a " council of reform," but it condemned the 
early reformers. It represented a spirit of vague 
stir and dissatisfaction, yet declined the leader- 
ship of those adventurous precursors of the 
Reformation who sealed their faith with their 
lives. It reached forth unto those things which 
are before, but could not be made to forget the 
things that are behind. Rooted as it was in 
medievalism, infused with the essence of the 
past, it somehow could not be engrafted with 
these scions of the dawn. The world that was 

178 



LUTHER 

ripe for the Renaissance seemed also ready for 
reform ; yet when the " reformers" came they 
perished. Why ? 

John Wyclif (i32o(?)-i384>. — John Wyclif, 
whose bones the Council of Constance ordered 
to be exhumed, burned, and thrown upon a dung- 
hill, had died thirty years before it assembled. 
It is not the least of the glories of England that 
upon her horizon arose this " morning star of the 
Reformation/' heralding the dawn of a brighter 
day for Christendom. Leader of the English 
scholastics, and the pride of Oxford, he was a 
man of pure and simple life, whose chief defect 
in leadership was that he seemed solely " a man 
of intellect, not of feeling." The first occasion 
of his public opposition to the papacy arose from 
the disgraceful situation at Avignon, — Wyclif 
as a patriot favoring British resistance to the 
ecclesiastical hirelings of France. Thus there 
would seem to be some foundation for the plaint 
of an eminent Roman Catholic that the " Baby- 
lonish captivity" was responsible for the " great 
apostacy of the sixteenth century," when we con- 
sider the eventual influence of Wyclif upon that 
movement. He grew rapidly in his opposition to 
the papacy, and broadened his grounds therefor. 
Not only did he boldly announce the necessity of 
divorce between church and state, going so far 
as to deny the right of the church to hold any 

179 



RIPENING CORN 



property at all; he also probed searchingly into 
the interior doctrines of the church. This led 
him to repudiate and attack the theory of tran- 
substantiation, substituting a doctrine like that 
which Luther held years afterwards. When this 
heresy was formally and publicly condemned, he 
simply reaffirmed his views, closing with the 
quiet words, " I believe that in the end the truth 
will conquer. " Coupled with his zeal against all 
things papal was a strong zeal for the preaching 
of the gospel. Organizing bands of " simple 
priests," he sent them out barefoot, staff in hand, 
preaching repentance and denouncing the sinful 
lives of the clergy. His followers were known as 
" Lollards," the earliest Protestants of England. 
The most remarkable teaching of Wyclif, 
which at last became the effective principle of 
the German Reformation, was his exaltation of 
the word of God. He taught that all other books, 
compared with this, are as the chaff to the wheat ; 
even the " fathers" of the church are to be es- 
teemed only as they build upon the word. 
" Though there were a hundred popes," his Tri- 
alogus declares, " and all the monks were trans- 
formed into cardinals, yet in matters of faith 
their opinions would be of no account, unless 
they were founded on Scripture." This belief 
in the supreme importance of the word led 
Wyclif to his greatest work, the translation of 

180 



LUTHER 

the Bible out of Latin into the English varnacu- 
lar (1382). In this way he became the father 
of English prose, as his contemporary, Chaucer, 
is the father of English poetry. Far more than 
this, he thus wrought unmeasured service for 
the militant kingdom, by placing in the hands 
of the humblest soldier that weapon effective 
against all foes, the true " sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God." Although Wyclif 
did not become a leader, he was certainly a pio- 
neer. His work had a greater immediate effect 
outside of England than within it, passing over 
half of Europe, and lodging especially in Bo- 
hemia, where through Hus and his followers it 
gained almost the dignity of a national religion. 
Wyclif's eventual influence is tersely intimated 
by R. L. Poole, when he says, " To Hus, whose 
works are to a great extent a cento of extracts 
from Wyclif, Luther owed much; and thus the 
spirit of the English teacher had its influence on 
the reformed churches of Europe." 

John Hus (1369-1415) and Jerome (1365- 
141 6). — John Hus became acquainted with the 
teachings of Wyclif chiefly through the knightly 
scholar, Jerome, of Prague, who studied at the 
universities of Paris, Cologne, Heidelberg, and 
Oxford. While at Oxford, Jerome translated 
several of Wyclif's works, which he afterwards 
brought back to Bohemia and distributed among 

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RIPENING CORN 



his friends. Hus was at this time preaching the 
gospel to the people of Prague in their own 
vernacular, a chapel having recently been 
founded for this purpose. He was " a man of 
the people," who flocked in crowds to hear him. 
His honesty and earnestness led him, when once 
converted to Wyclif's views, into a zealous 
preaching of reform and an attack of existing 
abuses both in practice and in doctrine, although 
in some points — as transubstantiation — he did 
not go to the lengths of his predecessor. In 
1409 his election to the rectorship of the Univer- 
sity of Prague brought him to the zenith of his 
power. The hostile priests, realizing that some- 
thing must be done to check an influence so 
destructive of the pretensions of Rome, lodged 
formal complaint against Hus at the papal court. 
There were bulls and book-burnings and an 
eventual excommunication, — all the mediaeval 
machinery for the extirpation of heretics was 
set in vigorous motion. Hus w T as but embol- 
dened. Finally, in the month of June, 141 5, he 
appeared before the Council of Constance in 
obedience to the summons of the Emperor Sigis- 
mund, who pledged him a safe-conduct; that is 
to say, a fair trial and a safe return to his home. 
The reformer's words on this occasion recall the 
words of Luther under strikingly similar circum- 
stances. " I call God to witness," said Hus to 

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LUTHER 

the threatening council, " that from my. heart I 
am ready to change my views the moment you 
teach me better than Holy Scripture. Until then, 
I am as immovable as a rock !" 

On July 6, 141 5, his forty-sixth birthday, the 
safe-conduct was violated, Hus being delivered 
over to the secular power for proper punishment. 
His hierarchical judges were quite as regardful 
of punctilio as the priests that delivered Christ 
over to Pilate. Hus did not hesitate openly to 
reproach the emperor for the violation of his 
oath; with such eloquence, indeed, that "a 
burning blush of shame suffused the imperial 
countenance." When John Hus was bound to 
the stake and the flames began to entwine his 
martyred body, he cried, with a loud voice, 
" Christ, Thou Son of the Living God, have 
mercy upon me !" And the " council of reform" 
had slain a great reformer. 

This council also condemned Jerome, who had 
stood by his friend in the time of his sorest need ; 
for the knight had gone to Constance of his own 
free will, simply out of devotion to one who was 
to him as Luther to Melanchthon. In a season 
of weakness (September 23, 141 5) Jerome sub- 
mitted to the decrees of the council by signing 
a paper approving the condemnation of Wyclif 
and Hus. Afterwards, however, — in May, 141 6, 
— he claimed a martyr's crown by confronting 

183 



RIPENING CORN 



the council with the noble words, " I will abjure 
only if it is proved from Holy Scripture that my 
doctrine is untrue/ ' And he, too, was led to the 
fiery stake. 

Hussite Wars. — The martyrdom of Hus and 
Jerome led to the fierce insurrection known as 
the Hussite Wars, which continued for eleven 
years with unabated ferocity under the leader- 
ship of the blind chief, Ziska, a born genius in 
war. The religious watchword of the fighting 
Hussites was their demand for the cup to be 
given in communion to the laity, as well as the 
bread ; and to this demand Rome finally acceded, 
only to withdraw the concession after peace had 
at length been established. 

The Moravians. — The Hussites survive to the 
present day in a peaceful band of " United 
Brethren," commonly known as Moravians, 
marked by the simple piety of their lives and for 
their activity in the work of foreign missions. 
They doubtless received this impulse through the 
consecrated example of their heroic leader, the 
Count von Zinzendorf, who revived and organ- 
ized their scattered strength during the first half 
of the eighteenth century. For the student of 
history they have peculiar dramatic interest as a 
handful of living witnesses to the turmoil of the 
mediaeval church, whose garments were so often 
stained with the blood of Christ's holiest saints. 

184 



LUTHER 

Signs of the Times. — It is very easy for us, 
looking backward, to see that Christendom was 
on the verge of a revolution. England had pro- 
duced a Wyclif, Bohemia her twin martyrs of 
Prague. Over in France, meanwhile, appeared 
that miraculous Maid of Orleans, while Italy 
will shortly witness the birth of Savonarola. 
Portentous signs of the times ! 

Joan of Arc (1412-1431). — What shall we 
think of Joan of Arc and her " voices" ? It 
seems impossible to explain this marvellous 
career by any ordinary process of reasoning. 
Was she not a little quick-eared prophetess, en- 
dowed with finer senses than her common sisters, 
and therefore able to understand the mysterious 
spiritual voices that were whispering everywhere 
of a spiritual springtime about to burst upon the 
world ? But the age would not listen to her and 
her voices. The age was deaf and blind to the 
things of the spirit. Her, also, — this little, ten- 
der maid, — they burnt her as a heretic ! " Yes, 
my voices were of God !" she cried, as the flames 
ascended ; " they have never deceived me !" And 
the next moment her innocent, brave spirit was 
at rest, " where, beyond these voices, there is 
peace." 

German Mystics. — Throughout Germany and 
the Netherlands bands of spiritually minded men 
waited and prayed for the redemption of Israel. 

185 



RIPENING CORN 



From among " The Brothers of the Common 
Life" Thomas a Kempis still speaks to Chris- 
tians of every age the deepest truths of a pro- 
found subjective piety. George Eliot says of his 
" Imitation of Christ" that " it was written down 
by a hand that waited for the heart's prompting ; 
it is the chronicle of a solitary, hidden anguish, 
struggle, trust, and triumph, — not written on 
velvet cushions to teach endurance to those who 
are treading with bleeding feet on the stones. 
And so it remains to all time a lasting record of 
human needs and human consolations." The 
Dominicans, Eckhart and Tauler, led a school of 
German mystics that eventually banded them- 
selves into a great association known as " The 
Friends of God," who, while accepting the dog- 
mas of the church and submitting to its authority, 
bitterly bemoaned the corruption of the clergy. 
Tauler's writings profoundly influenced Luther, 
whose most recent American biographer says that 
" one who would thoroughly understand Luther 
must, therefore, read Tauler." But in Italy all 
of this widespread spiritual intensity fused itself 
into a single life, and the soul of Girolamo 
Savonarola burned itself to ashes in a passionate 
protest against the prevailing " spiritual wicked- 
ness in high places." 

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498). — This Do- 
minican monk, having failed as a lecturer in 

186 



LUTHER 

Florence, first attracted attention at Brescia, in 
the year i486, when, at the age of thirty-four, 
he began to electrify the people with his terrific 
denunciations of the sins of Italy. Three years 
later he re-entered Florence, as an inmate of the 
convent of San Marco, to be immediately recog- 
nized as the most powerful orator of his times. 
Three prophecies he reiterated with burning 
fervor, — the church will be scourged, the church 
will be purified, and the time for this is nigh at 
hand. But he was not only religious, he was also 
a zealous patriot, directing many of his fiercest 
attacks against the reigning house of Medici, in 
whose overthrow he was largely instrumental, 
restoring the republic in 1494, anc ^ becoming 
virtual dictator of Florence for a season. When 
the magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici had tried to 
bribe him into silence with splendid gifts, Sa- 
vonarola replied, " A faithful dog does not give 
up barking in his master's defence because a bone 
is thrown to him. The monk cannot be bought." 
The multifold public character of Savonarola 
has been tersely summed by a brilliant American 
lecturer, who says that in doctrine he was a 
Roman Catholic ; in his warfare against the cor- 
rupt papacy, a Protestant ; in strife against pub- 
lic corruption, a Puritan ; and in his struggle for 
the welfare of the people, a democrat. It may be 
added that in all things he was an prator, for 

187 



RIPENING CORN 



nowhere does history present a more striking in- 
stance of large accomplishment by the magic 
power of an eloquent tongue than in the case of 
Savonarola, whose storms of speech swayed the 
multitudes as the wind will shake the reeds. 
Symonds says he would pour forth his thought 
" in columns of continuous flame, mingling fig- 
ures of sublimest imagery with reasonings of 
severest accuracy, at one time melting his audi- 
ence to tears, at another freezing them with 
terror, again quickening their souls with prayers 
and pleadings that had in them the sweetness of 
the very spirit of Christ. " The scribe to whom 
we owe fragments of his sermons now and 
again interpolates the words, " Here I was so 
overcome with weeping that I could not go on." 
Another witness reports : " These sermons 
caused such terror, alarm, sobbing, and tears, 
that every one passed through the streets with- 
out speaking, more dead than alive.' ' His 
favorite theme would be, " Repent ! A judgment 
of God is at hand. A sword is suspended over 
you. Italy is doomed for her iniquity, — for the 
sins of the church, whose adulteries have filled 
the world; for the sins of the tyrants who en- 
courage crime and trample upon souls; for the 
sins of you people, you fathers and mothers, you 
youths, you maidens, you children that lisp 
blasphemy!" His eloquence achieved a remark- 

188 



LUTHER 

able triumph when, in the midst of the gay car- 
nival time at Florence, he persuaded the people 
to give up their feast of follies and burn in one 
great sacrificial bonfire a gigantic pyramid of 
luxuries, in token of repentance and of contempt 
for the world with its vanities. 

But the time came when Fra Girolamo him- 
self was laid upon a pyre. The party of the 
Medici, restored to authority, had deep grudge 
against him. He had offended both state and 
church by his fierce frankness. It was the church, 
however, in the guise of the infamous Borgia 
family, that owed him the gravest debt. Rodrigo 
Borgia, as Alexander VI., was arch-fiend of all 
the evil popes. Against him and his innumerable 
villanies Savonarola had fulminated his heaviest 
thunderbolts. Rodrigo, finding that this trouble- 
some preacher could not be silenced with the 
proffered reward of a cardinal's hat, gave him 
the martyr's instead; and in the year 1498 an- 
other " heretic" was burned at the stake, having 
first been subjected to torture seven times upon 
the rack, and then strangled. The early re- 
formers trod a thorny pathway. 

The Inquisition. — Heretics, indeed, were the 

source of such abundant trouble to the mediaeval 

church that a powerful organization had been 

deemed necessary, having their extermination 

as its sole aim, and that by methods of extremest 

189 



RIPENING CORN 



cruelty. The Inquisition, founded in the year 
1232 and reorganized during Savonarola's life- 
time, found work constantly made ready for its 
bloody hands. Its activities had been especially 
lively during the thirteenth century, guided as 
they were by those fierce " dogs of the Lord," 
the Dominicans. It was then that war was 
ordered and executed against the Albigenses and 
other anti-sacerdotal sects, with such success as 
to secure their virtual annihilation. 

The Waldenses. — The Waldenses, however, 
proved invincible against fire and sword, doubt- 
less because they were inspired by worthier prin- 
ciples than their martyred predecessors. This 
ancient body of Italian Protestants still survive 
in their Alpine fastnesses, having been fiercely 
persecuted throughout many bitter years, — their 
sufferings so recently as in Milton's time drawing 
from that great poet the thrilling prayer begin- 
ning with the well-known words, — 

"Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold!" 

The terrors of the Inquisition cannot be exag- 
gerated. It possessed all of the power of a 
superbly perfected organization, upheld and di- 
rected by the unreserved sanction of the church 
itself. In the face of such an obstacle it would 

seem that reform is far to seek. 

190 



LUTHER 

And yet reform is coming. Some historian 
has wisely said that the career of Rodrigo Bor- 
gia in itself necessitated the Reformation, as 
inevitably as the darkest hour precedes the 
dawn. 

Pope Alexander VI. (1492-1503). — We have 
no time nor taste to detail the hideous crimes of 
the " Borgia triumvirate," — father, son, and 
daughter, — high priests and high-priestess of 
assassination, fratricide, and incest. In order, 
however, that the reader may have fitting back- 
ground for the approaching figure of Luther, we 
give this vivid summary of Rodrigo Borgia's 
character, from the historical " Studies" of H. 
Schtitz Wilson: 

" The life, the actions, and the character of 
this Pope will forever remain a moral problem. 
It must be remembered that he was Pope. He 
was not merely an almost incredibly wicked man, 
but he claimed to be the vicar of God. Apart 
even from the darkest crime which stains his in- 
famous memory, his life was a long breach of 
the commandments which say thou shalt not 
steal; thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not 
commit adultery; thou shalt not bear false wit- 
ness against thy neighbor. Alexander the Sixth 
is, perhaps, the greatest and the foulest criminal 
in history; and he is, furthermore, an occupant 
of the chair of St. Peter, the infallible pontiff of 

191 



RIPENING CORN 



a church which claims to represent Christianity. 
His life and his success in life destroy completely 
all the mystical pretensions which the supersti- 
tions and the fancies of men have woven round 
the papacy. The spectacle of Rodrigo Borgia 
as vicegerent of Christ excites almost a demoniac 
tendency to unnatural, mirthless amusement. 
The contrast of man and office awakens a sort 
of hideous humor. . . . His sensuality was 
measureless and his greed unbounded; but he 
shared his spoils with his offspring, and helped 
them to acquire for themselves. He had abso- 
lutely no conscience, no moral sense, and no 
dread whatever of the reward of crime. ... It 
would almost seem as if some demon had, in 
mockery of men, created a being who should 
thrive through unsurpassed wickedness, and who 
— as the profoundest effort of most devilish satire 
— should be placed on high in the then chief 
office of Christendom, and be worshipped by 
millions as the infallible representative on earth 
of the all-wise, all-merciful, omniscient, and eter- 
nal God." 

He died at last, in a ripe old age, from the 
effects of a cup of poison which he had hospitably 
prepared for a friendly cardinal. " Owing to the 
horrible effects of the Borgia poison the corpse 
of the Pope lost all shape and form, all distinc- 
tion between length and breadth. A rope was 

192 



LUTHER 

fastened round the feet, and one porter dragged 
the body to its place of sepulture. Humanity 
seemed to breathe more freely when this monster 
was removed from the earth." Such was the 
man whom Savonarola thought it right to de- 
nounce, and in whose lengthy catalogue of crime 
the murder of a single " heretic" was but a light 
and trivial thing. This man, moreover, was but 
an extreme type of the universal immorality of 
the times. Symonds says that it is " almost im- 
possible to over-estimate the moral corruption of 
Rome at the beginning of the sixteenth century." 
And a living Catholic historian confesses that the 
more thoroughly we investigate that period, " the 
darker is the picture which presents itself to 
us, in the whole of Europe, but especially in 
Italy." 

Opening Gates. — The half-century traversed 
by the life of Savonarola was emphatically the 
period of the Renaissance. The year after he 
was born was that initial year of modern history, 
the year 1453, when the gates of the Golden 
Horn at last moved on their ancient hinges, 
flooding all Europe from the classical springs of 
the East. The history of civilization has often 
proved that revivals of learning can coexist with 
decadence in morals. Rodrigo Borgia was a 
prominent patron of the arts and letters. " Lo- 
renzo the Magnificent" was so styled because he 
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lifted Florence to the zenith of her aesthetic mag- 
nificence. The genius of Titian was revelling in 
the beauties of nature, while the splendid powers 
of Michelangelo, whom Lorenzo discovered, de- 
lighted to spend themselves upon the glories of 
God. Over in Germany John Gutenberg has 
invented " the art preservative of all arts," the 
art of printing ; while the simultaneous discovery 
of a process for the cheap manufacture of paper 
assures the widest usefulness for his invention. 
The times are big with promise. One is inevi- 
tably reminded of the preparations of the ancient 
world for the coming of the Child of Bethlehem. 
Suddenly Columbus discovers a new earth, and 
the hearts of men swell tumultuously with high 
emprise. Copernicus shortly discovers a new 
heaven, revolutionizing the geography of the sky 
and building the modern science of the stars. 
And then, five years before Savonarola is burnt 
at the stake, there is born in a German peasant's 
hut one who shall discover, not a new heaven 
nor a new earth, but, what is better, a new path 
from earth unto heaven, a path not of works, 
but of faith ; where the wayfaring man, though 
a fool, may walk uprightly, supported by the 
strong Son of God. " An old writer describes 
the Church of All- Saints, at Wittenberg, as a 
manger, where in His lowly glory the Son of 

God was born again." 

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LUTHER 

2. THE MAN FOR THE HOUR 
Why the World waited for Luther. — Three 
distinct attributes are essential to the successful 
career of a great religious reformer, — a dual 
nature, a single purpose, and boundless courage. 
However otherwise great a reformer may be, if 
he do not combine in himself these three pecu- 
liarities, his work must fall short of the highest 
success, and prove a mere preparation, like that 
of Hus, or an unfruitful abortion, as with Sa- 
vonarola. Of course, moreover, the times must 
be propitious. Yet it will scarcely suffice to say 
that the age was not ripe for reform before 
Luther. Doubtless this is in a measure true, but 
it is equally true that ripe times must often wait 
for the right man. The three groping " councils 
of reform" show plainly enough that the re- 
awakening world, like some terrified child, had 
long been crying for a religious guardian whose 
torch of truth should dispel the surrounding 
gloom, — 

" An infant crying in the night ; 
An infant crying for the light; 

And with no language but a cry." 

As the rugged Carlyle so truthfully says, 
" Alas, we have known times call loudly enough 
for their great man; but not find him when 
they called ! He was not there ; providence had 

i95 



RIPENING CORN 



not sent him ; the time, calling its loudest, had to 
go down to confusion and wreck because he 
would not come when called." The world 
waited for the Reformation, and waited precisely 
until the day when a rare man could be found 
who, like Saul of Tarsus, combined in himself 
those three attributes of duality, simplicity, and 
bravery. 

As to duality, if a man is to be a religious 
leader of men, he must not only be religious, he 
must also be a man. He must have both a real 
communion with God and a genuine sympathy 
with his fellows. Communion will mean joy, 
sympathy will mean passion, or compassion, or 
suffering. He must know how to be obedient 
to the delectable heavenly vision, and he must 
also learn obedience through the things which 
he suffers, being one of like passions as we are. 
He must be a saint, but he dare not be a hermit. 
A hermit can become a herald, nothing more. 
The great religious leader must be a soul who 
with one hand can seize the very horns of the 
altar, while the other is busy with the multifold 
cares of a troubled workaday world. As one 
has said, " The incarnation of the divine in the 
human is the key to all truth, the summary of 
all life." 

Coupled with this spiritual duality there must 
be singleness of purpose, simplicity of aim, 

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LUTHER 

absolute sincerity of vision. " The eye must be 
single." Paul could say, " This one thing I do." 
He determined to know only one thing. And 
for this determination, be it noted, he needed 
something more than moral earnestness. There 
was also required a keenness of mental vision 
that could pierce through the shells of things 
down to the truth ; distinguishing that which is 
essential to the " one thing," and letting the non- 
essential go very much as it will. Thus it is that 
sincerity, seen from the other side, is called toler- 
ance. Sincerity is not only moral singleness, it 
is also simplicity and keenness of vision. 

And, finally, there must be bravery un- 
bounded. 

When a man with these attributes comes into 
an age that is crying for religious reform, 
Judaism is straightway transmuted into a gospel 
for the world, or the hidden ear of mediaeval 
Christianity ripens suddenly into " the full corn 
in the ear," — you have a Paul or a Luther. 

Luther's Early Years. — Martin Luther was 
born in the village of Eisleben on the ioth of 
November, 1483, of humble and honest parents, 
who believed that to spare the rod was to spoil 
the child. But the stern old miner was ambitious 
for his son, desiring that he become a lawyer, 
and so sent him early to school. It is pleasant to 
read how, as the student lad sang carols for a 

197 



RIPENING CORN 



living in the streets of Eisenach, Madame Ursula 
Cotta was so attracted by his clear voice and 
open countenance as to make him one of her own 
family, thus introducing him to his first privi- 
leges of culture. Afterwards he matriculated at 
Erfurt, at that time the leading university of 
Germany, where his talents won universal ad- 
miration. His friends nick-named him " Musi- 
cus," on account of his fondness for the lyre and 
for singing. His favorite studies were the 
classics, and especially the writings of Cicero. 
That which chiefly attracted him in the classics 
was their delineation of human life. Luther 
was always an intensely human man. He was 
not led away, however, into an infatuation for 
mere " Humanism,'' as the rationalistic culture 
of the Renaissance was called. From this he was 
saved by the " duality" of his inner constitution. 
For he had also a profoundly religious tempera- 
ment, developed and encouraged by the pious in- 
fluences of his home. As Beard says of him, 
" an awe of sacred things, and a vivid perception 
of their tremendous reality, more than anything 
else, made Martin Luther what he was." It gave 
him great delight to find in the university library 
a copy of the Latin Bible, and to discover that 
not nearly all of the Word of God was contained 
in his missal and breviary, as he had hitherto 
ignorantly supposed. Two startling events, 

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LUTHER 

which occurred shortly after he had come of 
age, made a deep impression on his sensitive and 
plastic character, — the sudden death of a young 
friend near his side, and, soon thereafter, his 
own narrow escape from death by lightning. 
This last-named incident really determined the 
course of his life. He had but just received his 
degree of Master of Arts, and " the wide world 
lay before him, where to choose." The directing 
flash blinded him while he was journeying 
through the heart of an ancient wood, on the 
roadside near Erfurt, which henceforth became 
his Damascus. 

His Conversion. — Terrified and trembling, his 
heart asked, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
do ?" Then he vowed that if God would but save 
him alive, he should straightway become a monk. 
He was the readier to do this because he had 
already tasted the bitterness of spiritual struggle, 
and, like Bernard, looked upon the cloister as the 
only refuge from the world and its temptations. 
Two weeks after the vow was made, the gates of 
the Augustinian cloister in Erfurt closed behind 
him, — he little witting that he should one day 
break them down, proclaiming liberty to these 
monastic captives of the law, and " the opening 
of the prison to them that are bound." 

The Young Monk. — It seems almost profane 
to unbar the young monk's cell and watch the 

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RIPENING CORN 



fierce spiritual battles that were waged there, for, 
alas! he found that his troops of temptations 
could not be shut outside the convent gates. The 
world was all about him; his flesh he carried 
with him; and these two together opened the 
door to the devil. It was in vain that young 
" Brother Augustine" gave himself to the cruel- 
ties of an extremely rigid discipline, until the 
authorities of the university felt called upon to 
interfere in behalf of their promising alumnus. 
In spite of all penance, this utterly sincere man 
was ever tortured by a troubled conscience, as he 
endeavored to work out his own salvation with 
fear and trembling. "If ever a monk could have 
gone to heaven by his observance of monastic 
vows, I should have been that monk," he after- 
wards wrote. " But, for the life of me, my 
heart could never be assured that God was well 
pleased with the work I had done, or had cer- 
tainly heard my prayer. . . . For fifteen years 
I was just such a pious monk, and yet never 
advanced so far as to be able to say, ' Now I am 
sure that God is gracious to me,' or, ' Now I 
have sought and experienced that my devotion to 
my order and my strict life have helped and led 
me towards heaven V " 

There were one or two in the convent, how- 
ever, who appreciated his difficulties and sympa- 
thized with his aspirations. In particular did the 

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LUTHER 

vicar-general of the Augustinians, John Staupitz, 
direct him towards the true path, and prepare 
him for his eventual solution of the problem of 
salvation with the key of " justification by faith." 
Professor and Preacher. — In the year 1508 
Staupitz secured Luther's appointment as pro- 
fessor in the newly established university at Wit- 
tenberg, under the patronage of the great Elec- 
tor of Saxony, Frederick the Wise. The spare 
hours of his cloistral life having been given to 
the diligent study of the Bible, Luther was 
shortly adjudged worthy of the degree of Bache- 
lor of Divinity, and afterwards of Doctor of 
Theology, being duly authorized to lecture upon 
the various branches of the sacred science. In 
1509 he was also made court preacher at Witten- 
berg, which remained his home until death. He 
speedily won great popularity with the students, 
besides establishing his fame with the people as 
a practical and powerful preacher of the gospel. 
Hostile testimony says that " he soon became a 
power in the pulpit. His voice was fine, sonor- 
ous, clear, striking. And the matter of his dis- 
courses seems to have attracted his hearers no 
less than his elocution. He departed wholly 
from the established type of sermon, founding 
himself not upon the scholastics, but upon the 
Bible, and especially upon the Epistles attributed 

to St. Paul." 

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RIPENING CORN 



The Voice of the Word.— The chief difficulty 
of his own spiritual life began finally to resolve 
itself in consequence of a striking experience that 
happened to him during his visit to Rome in the 
year 151 1, whither he had been sent on a mis- 
sion for his old friend, the vicar-general, Stau- 
pitz. It was then that Luther heard his " voices." 
He had come to Rome all thrilled with a devout 
Catholic's reverence for the Eternal City, whose 
historical associations appealed especially to one 
of his deeply poetic temperament. When he 
caught first sight of the majestic queen of the 
world, he fell upon the ground, and, his hands 
outstretched, exclaimed, "Hail, holy Rome!" 
But the enthusiasm of the provincial monk was 
destined to be severely shocked by the levity and 
luxury which he found on every hand during his 
month's sojourn in Rome. This man, all his life 
long, was terribly in earnest. His sins troubled 
him, — how to be rid of their guilt was his single 
aim. Did not the church preach self-denial, self- 
mortification, good works? No other way did 
he know, and he was intensely earnest about 
keeping strictly to that way. But, lo ! here, in 
the inmost heart of Christendom, he perceived 
that those highest in the church did not practise 
what it preached. When he saw the very heart 
of things honeycombed with luxury, and wanton- 
ness, and worldliness, there began to arise in his 

202 



LUTHER 

mind subtle insistent questionings as to whether 
all this doctrine of salvation by good works were 
not, after all, a hollow mockery, a delusion, and 
a snare. Yet still he clung to the old way. Then 
came the voice. While climbing on his knees the 
steps of " Pilate's Stairway," one day, in la- 
borious effort towards atonement for his sins, — 
while spelling the poor tinkling alphabet of pen- 
ance, repeating countless paternosters with his 
lips, — there sounded to his inner heart a still 
small voice, singing from his Latin Bible a 
strange new hymn of faith and hope and life, — 
" The just shall live by faith ! The just shall live 
by faith !" And the words continually beat upon 
his heart until the voice was as the voice of thun- 
der. Such, in a word, was the simple peaceful 
song that grew at last into his mighty battle- 
hymn of victory. 

But Luther for the time quietly returned to 
Wittenberg, and continued in his routine duties. 
The growth in his heart, like all true growth, 
was slow and sure. Not until the 31st day of 
October, 15 17, did the voice completely possess 
him, making him to become a mouth-piece for 
the clarion utterance of the very voice of God. 

Indulgences. — It was in connection with the 
sale of indulgences. Pope Leo X., partially on 
account of his own expensive tastes, but espe- 
cially for the purpose of completing St. Peter's 

203 



RIPENING CORN 



Cathedral at Rome, had directed this accustomed 
practice of the church to extreme lengths. This 
was a pope " in whose veins flowed the mercan- 
tile blood of the Medici;" and now he needed 
money. Let us, however, be fair. The church, 
as such, never officially taught that an indulgence 
can remit the guilt or punishment of sin, but 
simply that exemption from purgatory could thus 
be assured to those who, by true repentance, had 
already been absolved from their guilt. But such 
nice differences were ignored by the worldly and 
mercenary venders of these bills of exemption. 
Even the Roman Catholics now acknowledge 
that " there can be no question at all that indul- 
gences as then preached were an ' incentive to sin 
and a danger to souls.' : The abuses were 
" gross as a mountain, open, palpable." 

John Tetzel. — Particularly gross were the 
practices of the ecclesiastical cheap- John who in- 
vaded Luther's territory, John Tetzel by name. 
Travelling about in splendid style, whenever he 
entered a town all the bells would be rung, while 
the mayor with his aldermen would go out to 
meet him, the citizens and even the school-chil- 
dren joining in the long procession. They car- 
ried a great red cross before Tetzel, gilded with 
the Pope's coat-of-arms. He would go with 
much pomp into a church, set the great cross be- 
fore the altar, and begin to exhort the people to 

204 



LUTHER 

buy pardons ; standing in the pulpit like an auc- 
tioneer, wheedling the ignorant folk out of their 
money in return for delivering their beloved 
dead from the flames of purgatory ! 

" As soon as the money clinks in the box, 
The soul shall spring up from the flame !" 

A good story is told on Tetzel, in a case where 
he had granted a personal absolution. A knight 
of Leipzig asked whether he could buy an indul- 
gence beforehand for a certain crime he intended 
to commit, but which he did not desire to di- 
vulge. Tetzel said that he could, if the price 
were right. So the bargain was made. A short 
time afterwards, as Tetzel was departing from 
Leipzig laden with gold as a bee with pollen, this 
same knight waylaid him, beat him, and robbed 
him ; and, when saying an affectionate farewell, 
announced that this was the crime for which 
Tetzel had extended an absolution beforehand ! 

For more than a year before the final out- 
break, Luther had been openly denouncing this 
gross abuse. He had also given himself to a 
continuous and thorough study of the entire 
question of Papal authority, particularly in con- 
nection with the pardon of sins, which overshad- 
owed every other consideration in his deeply re- 
ligious nature. Earnest friends of the truth were 
looking to him, as to a natural leader, for action, 

205 



RIPENING CORN 



since it was generally recognized that a crisis 
could scarcely be avoided. Tetzel's buffoonery 
was but the occasion of an outbreak, the real and 
multifold causes of which we have been endeav- 
oring to trace in preceding chapters. 

The Ninety-five Theses. — So, on the 31st of 
October, 15 17, Luther took advantage of a cus- 
tom common among Wittenberg scholars, of 
posting theses on the door of the castle church 
for the sake of general discussion, he at this time 
arranging under ninety-five different headings 
not only negative denials of current abuses, espe- 
cially in the sale of indulgences, but also positive 
declarations of the truth as it is taught in God's 
Word concerning repentance and salvation from 
sin. The theses are manifestly the fruit both of 
a correct Biblical theory and of a heartfelt Chris- 
tian experience. They carry conviction with 
them. And they carried conviction straight to 
the hearts of the people who read them then, and 
in multiplied copies thereafter. 

It chanced to be the eve of All- Saints' day. 
Crowds were pouring into the city, because the 
Pope had said that he would give an indulgence 
to all who would visit the Wittenberg church at 
that time. The church was particularly attrac- 
tive, because within its sacred walls were to be 
found many marvellous relics, such as a chip 
from Noah's ark, some soot from the furnace in 

206 



LUTHER 

which the three Hebrew children were miracu- 
lously protected, a piece of wood from our Lord's 
cradle, some of St. Christopher's beard, and nine- 
teen thousand other sacred relics. Luther was 
greatly surprised at the stir caused by his fearless 
theses. Not only did they become the sensation 
of the crowds in Wittenberg, but the wonderful 
printing-press seized them, and flung them far 
and wide. " In fourteen days," he says, " they 
flew all over Germany." " In four weeks," says 
a contemporary, " they were diffused throughout 
all Christendom, as though the angels were the 
postmen." As soon as people read them, they 
would say, " This is what I have been thinking 
all the time!" The point is, this man dared to 
say what others had been thinking ; and " to 
dare to say what other people only dare to think 
makes men martyrs and reformers." 

The Church is born again (151 7). — The Ref- 
ormation was begun. October 31, 15 17, is the 
birthday of the Protestant Church. 

The Church is baptized (1521). — We can fol- 
low the growth of this great and complex move- 
ment only in the largest outline. Passing over 
the important colloquies of Heidelberg, Augs- 
burg, and Leipzig, let us turn at once from this 
cradle scene of Protestantism to a day which — 
to carry out the figure — has appropriately been 
called the day of its baptism, — April 18, 1521, 

207 



RIPENING CORN 



when the infant church was nearly four years 
old. On that day it was definitely committed to 
look for its salvation through the word, and 
through the word alone. 

During the stormy intervening period, Lu- 
ther's views of the papacy had undergone a great 
though gradual change. In 15 17 he was a de- 
vout Romanist, respecting the authority of Leo 
as the divinely appointed father of the church, 
whilst yet vehemently protesting against abuses 
of that authority. He even affirmed, in No. 78 
of the Ninety-five Theses, that the Pope could 
confer " powers," gifts of healing, laying the 
blame for current abuses not on Leo, but at the 
feet of his unworthy agents. "If the Pope were 
acquainted with the exactions of the preachers 
of pardons, he would prefer that the Basilica of 
St. Peter should be burnt to ashes, rather than 
built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his 
sheep." In a letter written to Leo in 15 18, he 
calls him the Vicar of Christ. In another, dated 
March 3, 15 19, he expresses deep personal hu- 
mility, and acknowledges the Roman Church as 
lord over every power on earth or in heaven, 
" except only Jesus Christ, the Lord of all." Yet 
that his mind was already gravely disturbed ap- 
pears from a letter to his friend Spalatin, just ten 
days later, wherein he says, " I know not whether 
the Pope is antichrist himself, or his apostle." 

208 



LUTHER 

After his excommunication, in June, 1520, these 
doubts settle into certainty; and in his last let- 
ter to Leo, sent in October of that year, he 
addresses him no longer as a superior, but — 
although with deep personal respect — treats him 
as an ecclesiastical equal, and declares that the 
Pope is a vicar of Christ simply because Christ 
is absent from Rome. The next month he calls 
him a hardened heretic and a blasphemer. In 
December, 1 520, he took the step which shut him 
forever from the Roman fold, by burning the 
first decree of excommunication, with the words, 
" As thou, Pope, hast vexed the Holy One of the 
Lord, so may the eternal fire vex thee." This 
brought out the terrible decree, which is still read 
annually in Rome, consigning Luther and all his 
adherents to everlasting damnation. 

Such was the gradual growth of Luther's op- 
position to the papacy. He had all along com- 
municated his enlightenment to the people, so 
that finally, in 1521, they were ready to treat him 
as a hero when the emperor summoned him, on 
March 6, to journey for his trial to Worms upon 
the Rhine (famous in tradition as the scene of 
the Nibelungenlied) . Here Charles had been sit- 
ting in diet with papal legates and with princely 
counsellors since the last of January. On the 
one hand, the Pope was demanding that the em- 
peror give military execution to the religious sen- 
14 209 



RIPENING CORN 



tence against Luther. On the other hand, Charles 
feared the power of Luther's friends among the 
nobility, chief of whom was the powerful Elector 
of Saxony. Therefore, he finally summoned the 
cause of all this trouble, hoping that Luther by 
recantation might dispel his quandary.* 

And now the month of April! On the sec- 
ond day of the month Luther left Wittenberg 
for Worms, accompanied by three friends, a pro- 
fessor, a student, and a monk. Preceded by the 
imperial herald in guaranty of temporary protec- 
tion granted to this outlaw of the church, the 
four journeyed in an open farm- wagon. Justus 
Jonas joined the party. They were more than 
two weeks on the way; and this entire journey 
was what our newspapers would call an ovation. 
People filled the streets and climbed to the house- 
tops in towns through which the popular hero 

* Here it may be well briefly to dismiss several mis- 
conceptions in connection with this great historical 
event. First, as to the character of Charles. Politi- 
cally, he was by no means a weak monarch, but the 
greatest German emperor since Charlemagne. He was 
ruler of Spain, Naples, Sicily, Austria, Hungary, Bo- 
hemia, and the Netherlands. He died a monk in Spain, 
his last breath pronouncing the word, " Jesus !" Sec- 
ondly, the Eck who spoke against Luther at Worms 
was not the Eck of the Leipzig controversy; though 
even an historian like Froude confounds the two. In 
the third place, Melanchthon was not at Worms. He 
wished to be with his friend, but was needed at home. 

210 



LUTHER 

was passing. In the cities of Leipzig and Erfurt 
special honor was manifested, Luther being a 
great favorite with the student classes. On the 
Lord's day he preached with great power; 
learned hearers guessed that he must have out- 
done the effectiveness of St. Paul himself. In 
the evenings, while lodging in the inns, he would 
refresh his spirit with the music of his lyre. It 
is doubtless with reference to this musical habit 
of his that the Roman Catholic, Dollinger, says 
of him that " heart and mind of the Germans 
were in his hand like the lyre in the hand of the 
musician." So, indeed, it proved from this time 
onward. Once during the journey he was ill, but 
never fearful. It was in a letter to Spalatin, 
while in the midst of great dangers, constantly 
increasing as he neared the imperial city, that he 
wrote : " Though there were as many devils in 
Worms as the tiles upon the house-tops, yet 
would I go !" 

On the 1 6th the journey was over. Thou- 
sands gave him welcome. His enemies, alert to 
see this " German beast," as they called him, 
were impressed with the brilliant fire of his eyes. 
His appearance was greatly different from that 
of later life, when the familiar portraits were 
painted. Now he was only thirty-eight years 
old. Of but middle height, his face and form 
were thin, even emaciated, the lips prominent, 

211 



RIPENING CORN 



the hair — which was still tonsured — dark and 
curly. His voice was clear and melodious, and, 
as his enemies remarked, there shone a deep light 
in those sombre eyes. Neatly clothed in the mo- 
nastic garb, his demeanor was dignified and mod- 
est. Such the man who, two days later, was to 
change the course of history and unfetter the 
human mind. 

On the evening of the 17th they led him to 
the diet hall by side streets, in order to escape 
the crowd. The hall was filled with a brilliant 
and mighty company. What was he, poor monk, 
that he should resist emperor and pope? And, 
to tell the truth, the little man did falter. When 
Dr. John von Eck pointed to the heap of books, 
some twenty-five in all, and asked him, first, 
whether they were his; secondly, whether he 
would renounce them, — to the first question, he 
answered, " Yes," then hesitated as to the sec- 
ond, seemed on the point of giving way, and 
finally asked for time to consider. His friends 
were alarmed; his enemies exchanged glances 
over this easy triumph. The emperor reluctantly 
granted a day's delay. But the little monk went 
back to his lodgings, and that same night wrote, 
" I shall not retract one iota, so Christ help 
me!" 

Nor did he. The next day was not merely 
the greatest of his life, but the chief in modern 

212 



LUTHER 

history. On his way to the hall it is said that 
an old knight grasped his shoulder and spoke 
words of mingled warning and encouragement : 
" Little monk, little monk, thou treadest a dan- 
gerous path!" God was with him. Standing 
once more before emperor, electors, legates, arch- 
bishops, dukes, princes, counts, ambassadors, — 
more than two hundred in all, — he fears none 
alone but God. And one man with God is 
stronger than the world beside. 

It is now past dark. In the spacious palace 
they have lit the torches, whose flickering light, 
as it falls on the apparel of princes, is increased 
and aided by sparks shot from many jewels, — 
" lordly male-sapphires, and rubies courageous at 
heart. ,, But the real prince stands yonder, alone 
and unadorned. He whose fit symbol is the 
strong-hearted ruby, stands before this second 
Pilate with his high-priests, ungemmed except 
by truth, his only panoply the panoply of God. 

The lordly Eck, spokesman for the Pope, re- 
bukes him for delaying the emperor thus; then 
speaks the carefully chosen words, " Defendest 
thou all these books which thou sayest are thine, 
or wilt thou recant some part ?" " Responded 
Dr. Martin, both in Latin and in German, not 
clamorously, but modestly, yet not without a cer- 
tain dignity and firmness, that his books are of 
three sorts, — books that teach, books that pro- 

213 



RIPENING CORN 



test, and books that argue. Now, should his op- 
ponents convince him of error, he would revoke 
the books and burn them. ' If I have spoken 
evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why 
smitest thou me ?' " And he concluded with a 
warning to the emperor himself of the judgment 
of God on ungodly rulers ! 

Eck grows still more arrogant. In the name 
of the emperor he rebukes Luther for evading 
the question. It is not a matter for debate, says 
he, for these heresies, taught formerly by Hus 
and Wyclif, had already been condemned by both 
Pope and councils. " Give us, now, an answer, 
not an evasion ; an answer without horns !" 

And here is the answer he got : 

" Since your Imperial Majesty and your Ex- 
cellencies desire straightforward answer, an an- 
swer will I give having neither horns nor teeth. 
Save only I be vanquished either by proofs of 
Scripture or through clear reasonings, — for I 
believe neither Pope nor councils of themselves, 
it being clear as day that they have often erred 
and spoken contradictions, — so, then, remain I 
vanquished by the Holy Scriptures I myself have 
cited, and my conscience is prisoner to God's 
word ! Retract I cannot and I will not aught, for 
to act against one's conscience is neither safe nor 
sound." 

Confusion followed, as always when the light- 

214 



LUTHER 

ning strikes. Pressed and threatened, this giant 
at bay then gathered all his vast spirit into a 
handful of burning words, and threw them forth 
into the world as living coals : 

" Here stand I ! I can do naught else ! God 
help me! Amen!" 

His weakness, through wrestlings of prayer, 
had gained the perfection of strength. Yester- 
day he was Luther; to-day he is Luther with 
God. All of this arrayed power is weaker than 
a word from the " German fool ;" the mighty are 
confounded by the foolish; these princes are to 
his breath as chaff. " It is as we say," repeats 
Carlyle, " the greatest moment in the modern 
history of men. English puritanism, England 
and its parliaments, Americas, and vast work of 
these two centuries; French revolution, Europe 
and its work everywhere at present : the germ of 
it all lay there : had Luther in that moment done 
other, it had all been otherwise!" 

Luther profited at Worms by the Emperor 
Sigismund's historic blush. When Roman Cath- 
olic partisans suggested to Charles that he cause 
the safe-conduct to be violated, he is said to 
have replied that he had no wish to blush like 
the traitorous protector of Hus. The heretic 
should be conducted safely to his home; after- 
wards, the decree of the Diet might be enforced. 
This decree " solemnly proscribed him as a here- 

215 



RIPENING CORN 



tic, forbade all men to house, shelter, or nourish 
him, and commanded them to lay hands upon 
him and deliver him up to the imperial officers. 
It also ordered his writings to be burnt." But 
Luther's friends provided against the execution 
of the edict by a cunning stratagem devised dur- 
ing the homeward journey. Armed knights 
sprang from ambush upon his carriage, and 
whirled him away no one knew whither, save 
they. 

The Wartburg. — For almost a year he was 
subjected to a friendly imprisonment under the 
guardianship of the great elector, Frederick the 
Wise, in the mountain castle of the Wartburg, 
where, disguised as a knight and known to the 
country folk as " Prince George," he busied him- 
self with literary work of the greatest importance 
in insuring a more general understanding of the 
word of God. It was during this period, within 
the remarkably short space of three months, that 
Luther translated the Greek Testament of Eras- 
mus into an idiomatic German that remains to 
this day one of the wonders of literature. Luther 
did even more for the German language than 
Wyclif had done for English. This work, there- 
fore, was of inestimable benefit not alone to the 
church, but also to the German people, for it es- 
tablished their hitherto confused language in a 
single literary form, which in turn served eventu- 

216 



LUTHER 

ally to unify the nation. As Dr. Jacobs truth- 
fully remarks, the achievement of those three 
months would alone have given to Luther a last- 
ing renown. 

It was while he was engaged upon this literary 
work that he threw his inkstand at the devil. 
Once more let us quote Carlyle, in his suggestive 
description of this incident : " Luther sat trans- 
lating one of the psalms; he was worn down 
with long labor, with sickness, abstinence from 
food; there rose before him some hideous in- 
definable image, which he took for the evil one, 
to forbid his work. Luther started up, with 
fiend-defiance, flung his inkstand at the spectre, 
and it disappeared ! The spot still remains there, 
a curious monument of several things. Any 
apothecary's apprentice can now tell us what we 
are to think of this apparition, in a scientific 
sense; but the man's heart that dare rise defiant, 
face to face, against hell itself, can give no higher 
proof of fearlessness. The thing he will quail 
before exists not on this earth or under it." 

The Church is named (1529). — The young re- 
generated church was not named at the time of 
its " baptism." The naming did not take place 
until the year 1529. At first, the Roman Cath- 
olic emperor and his powerful friends had merely 
played with Luther's followers, in the hope that 

their zeal would soon die out. But since it- grew 

217 



RIPENING CORN 



stronger, instead, and the Reformation was 
steadily spreading, strict laws were finally pro- 
mulgated against all who followed Luther, and 
they were ranked as outcasts and outlaws because 
they would not submit to the Pope. We must 
not forget that the Holy Roman Empire still had 
a nominal existence; the Pope and the emperor 
were twin brothers, and in this case the emperor 
was sincerely devout. But the Lutherans refused 
to be outlawed. At the first Diet of Spires, held 
in 1526, they secured virtual annulment of the 
Edict of Worms, in a temporary permission ac- 
corded " every state so to live, rule, and believe, 
as it may hope and trust to answer before God 
and His Imperial Majesty." This was in fact 
equivalent to religious freedom. But a second 
diet, held three years later in the same city, re- 
voked this amicable concession, and enacted 
against the further progress of the Reformation 
checks more positive than ever. Then it was 
that the Lutheran princes formally entered an 
emphatic protest against all measures of the Diet 
which might be contrary to the Word of God, to 
their consciences, or to the decision of the Diet 
of 1526. This bold action, says Dr. Schaff, 
" was a renewal and expansion of Luther's pro- 
test at Worms. The protest of a single monk 
had become the protest of princes and representa- 
tives of leading cities, who now for the first time 

218 



LUTHER 

appeared as an organized party." One thing 
that came incidentally out of their protest was 
a name for the reformed portion of the church; 
it was henceforth called the Protestant Church, 
because it had protested. Spires is the Antioch 
of Protestantism (see Acts xi. 26). This pro- 
test was made on the 25th of April, 1529. In 
that same year Luther prepared, besides a larger 
work for the use of the ministry, his " Smaller 
Catechism," or summary of the Scriptures in a 
brief and plain form for the use of the common 
people and the children. This little book is the 
best known of all his writings, and has, indeed, 
become one of the most widely used books in 
all the world, especially in preparing young peo- 
ple for " confirmation," or reception by personal 
confession into the full fellowship of the king- 
dom. 

The Church is confirmed (1530). — The re- 
formed church was itself confirmed in its faith 
when it made a full confession of the same the 
next year, at Augsburg, a city already associated 
with the progress of the Reformation. The em- 
peror at this time could ill afford the antagonism 
of the ever-increasing body of Protestants, as his 
empire was heavily threatened by hateful foes 
from abroad. " The unspeakable Turk" was 
once more menacing the safety and peace of Eu- 
rope. Charles, therefore, convened the Diet of 

219 



RIPENING CORN 



Augsburg in April, 1530. in the hope of settling 
these vexed religious questions, so that his peo- 
ple could present a solid front against their foes. 
But in order that these questions might be really 
settled, it was first necessary that they be clearly 
understood. The Lutheran party, therefore, 
were permitted to present a confession of their 
faith, setting forth not only what they positively 
believed, but also those points in the Roman 
teaching which they disbelieved. This confes- 
sion was read before the Diet on the 25th of 
June, 1530, the emperor falling asleep, but the 
majority listening attentively. Luther himself 
was not present, being confined in a second 
friendly imprisonment in the castle of the Co- 
burg, on the Saxon frontier. He had, however, 
substantially " inspired" the confession, which 
was as to its form the work of his chief asso- 
ciate, the learned Philip Melanchthon, professor 
of Greek at Wittenberg. 

The Confessions. — The Presbyterian histo- 
rian, Dr. Schaff, characterizes this Augsburg 
Confession as " the first and most famous of 
evangelical confessions, . . . the most churchly, 
the most catholic, the most conservative creed of 
Protestantism. ... It gave clear, full, system- 
atic expression to the chief articles of faith for 
which Luther and his friends had been contend- 
ing for thirteen years, since he raised his protest 

220 



LUTHER 

against the traffic in indulgences. It furnished 
the key-note to similar public testimonies of faith, 
and strengthened the cause of the Reformation 
everywhere." 

The Roman Catholics at once replied to this 
manifesto of the Protestants, evoking from Me- 
lanchthon a defence, or " Apology," of the Augs- 
burg Confession, which he completed in April, 
1 53 1. The Apology is the most learned of the 
Lutheran symbols, seven times larger than the 
Confession, which it vindicates in scholarly and 
conclusive style. The other symbolical books of 
the Lutherans, besides the two catechisms, 
" larger" and " smaller," are the Smalkald 
Articles, prepared by Luther and adopted by 
the league of Protestant princes in 1537; and 
the Formula of Concord, which was not pro- 
duced until 1577, more than thirty years after 
Luther's death. In the year 1580 these six dis- 
tinctive creeds, which, like the three ancient con- 
fessions, were thrown out as successive bulwarks 
in defence of the faith, were all collected and 
incorporated with the ecumenical creeds in the 
Book of Concord, the chief theological monu- 
ment of the Reformation. 

The Diet of Augsburg did not accomplish the 
purpose for which Charles had called it. It 
served, on the contrary, only to widen the breach 
between the Roman Catholics and the Protest- 

221 



RIPENING CORN 



ants, much to the emperor's chagrin. The Prot- 
estant princes now formed the Smalkaldian 
League for military purposes, and civil war was 
prevented only by the imminent menace of the 
Turks. These were defeated and forced to re- 
treat. Then, the religious question coming up- 
permost again, Roman Catholics and Protestants 
actually came to blows in the Smalkald War, the 
Catholics on their part having formed the " Holy 
League," which was victorious. In the year 
1550 the prospects of the German Protestants 
seemed dark indeed. But through a second 
change of front on the part of the powerful but 
unprincipled Duke Maurice of Saxony their for- 
tunes greatly brightened. A treaty of peace was 
at length concluded at Augsburg, September 25, 
1555, which brought the history of the German 
Reformation to a close, by the promulgation of 
a permanent guarantee to Protestants of full re- 
ligious liberty and equal rights with the Roman 
Catholics. 

The Church comes of Age (1555). — If the re- 
generate church had its birthday at Wittenberg 
in 1 5 17; its baptism at Worms in 152 1; if it 
received its name at Spires in 1529, and was 
confirmed through confession at Augsburg in 
1530, then the day of its coming of age was Sep- 
tember 25, 1555, when the complete rights of a 
full-grown manhood were won after many hard- 

222 



LUTHER 

fought battles. Luther had died nine years be- 
fore, worn with labor, harassed by disease, and 
somewhat despondent as to the early success of 
the Reformation. Like many another great man, 
it was never given him to see the full fruits of a 
labor to which he had devoted the best years of 
an ardent and arduous life. If ever any work 
in this world has, under God, been due to the 
efforts of a single man, the Protestant Church 
owes its existence to this " solitary monk who 
shook the world." 

The Death of Luther. — He died February 18, 
1546, in the town of his birth, Eisleben, whither 
he had gone on the errand of a peace-maker. 
In one of his last letters to his anxious wife he 
wrote, " Dismiss your cares, for I have one who 
cares for me better than you or angels can. He 
lies in a manger, and hangs on the breast of a 
virgin, but is also seated on the right hand of 
God the Father Almighty." Modestly he says 
of his life-work, " Only a little of the first-fruits 
of wisdom — only a few fragments of the bound- 
less heights, breadths, and depths of truth — 
have I been able to gather." Almost his last 
words were those of the Scripture text that he 
had fondly named " the little gospel," because it 
sums up the conclusion of the whole matter, — 
" God so loved the world that He gave His Only 
Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 

223 



RIPENING CORN 



should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
When asked whether he died in the faith which 
he had preached, he distinctly answered, " Yes," 
and went peacefully to sleep. 

His Childlike Trust. — This closing scene was 
but typical of the childlike religious trust that 
had marked his life even in stormiest seasons. 
When, in 1518, the Pope's spokesman at Augs- 
burg had tauntingly asked him where he would 
find refuge if the Pope turned against him, he 
had unfalteringly answered, " Under the canopy 
of heaven, beneath the hand of God." At 
Worms, when at the critical point of his entire 
career, being just about to face the overpowering 
Diet, a friend heard him praying alone in his 
room. This friend transcribed the prayer, which 
has come down to us warm and throbbing with 
the profound spiritual life of this giant of God : 

" Almighty and Eternal God, how is there 
but one thing to be seen upon earth ! How the 
people open wide their mouths ! How small and 
insignificant is their trust in God! How tender 
and weak the flesh, and how mighty and active 
the devil, working through his apostles and those 
wise in this world ! How the world draws back 
the hand, and snarls, as it runs the common 
course, — the broad way to hell, where the god- 
less belong ! It has regard only for what is pre- 
tentious and powerful, great and mighty. If I 

224 



LUTHER 

should turn my eyes in that direction, it would 
be all over with me; the clock would strike the 
hour, and sentence would be passed. O God! 
O God ! O Thou, my God ! Do Thou, my God, 
stand by me, against all the world's wisdom and 
reason. Oh, do it ! Thou must do it ! Yea, Thou 
alone must do it! Not mine, but Thine, is the 
cause. For my own self, I have nothing to do 
with these great earthly lords. I would prefer 
to have peaceful days, and to be out of this tur- 
moil. But Thine, O Lord, is this cause; it is 
righteous and eternal. Stand by me, Thou true 
eternal God ! In no man do I trust. All that is 
of the flesh, and that savors of the flesh, is here 
of no account. God, O God ! dost Thou not hear 
me, O my God? Art thou dead? No. Thou 
canst not die; Thou art only hiding Thyself. 
Hast Thou chosen me for this work? I ask 
Thee how I may be sure of this, if it be Thy 
will : for I would never have thought, in all my 
life, of undertaking aught against such great 
lords. Stand by me, O God, in the Name of Thy 
dear Son, Jesus Christ, who shall be my defence 
and shelter, yea, my mighty fortress, through 
the might and strength of Thy Holy Ghost. 
Lord, where abidest Thou? Thou art my God; 
where art Thou? Come! come! I am ready 
to lay down my life patiently as a lamb. For the 
cause is right and it is Thine, so shall I never be 
15 225 



RIPENING CORN 



separated from Thee. Let all be done in Thy 
name ! The world must leave my conscience un- 
constrained; and, although it should be full of 
devils, and my body, Thy handiwork and crea- 
tion, be rent into fragments, yet Thy Word and 
Spirit are good to me. All this can befall only 
the body ; the soul is Thine, and belongs to Thee, 
and shall abide with Thee eternally. Amen. God 
help me. Amen." 

Afterwards, while confined in the castle of 
the Coburg, he turned this wonderful prayer 
into his famous battle-hymn, which he set to 
rough martial music that beats with the tread of 
the armies of the Lord of Hosts : 

" A mighty fortress is our God, 
A towering shield and weapon; 
A mighty help 'mid every flood 
Of ills that e'er can happen. 
The ancient Prince of Hell 
Hath risen with purpose fell ; 
Strong mail of craft and power 
He weareth in this hour — 
On earth is not his victor. 

" By force of arms we nothing can — 
Full soon were we down-ridden, 
But for us fights the Mighty Man 
Whom God Himself hath bidden. 
Ask ye, Who is this same? 
Christ Jesus is His Name, 
The Lord of Sabaoth, 
And Very God in truth — 
He conquers in this battle. 
226 



LUTHER 

"Though devils all the earth should fill, 
Each watching to devour us, 
We tremble not, we fear no ill, 
They cannot overpower us. 
And let the Prince of 111 
Look grim as e'er he will, 
We feel no dread alarm; 
He's judged; he cannot harm; 
Christ's lightest Word shall stay him. 

" The Word shall stand : this must they yield— 
Nor thank to them be for it; 
Christ is our Helper on this field, 
With His great gifts and Spirit. 
And though they take our life, 
Goods, honor, children, wife, 
So let their worst be done, 
Yet have they nothing won, — 
And we still have the Kingdom." 

And yet this man with the soul of a lion had 
the heart of a child. This great rock of a man, 
" whose words were half-battles," who could 
hurl fire and tempest into music, his soul leaping 
with the exultation of war as he shouted, " A 
mighty fortress is our God !" could sing thus of 
the Infant Jesus: 

"A Babe to-day is born for you, 
Of Mary, virgin pure and true; 
A Baby lovable and bright, 
To be your pleasure and delight. 

" Ah, little Jesus ! Baby sweet ! 
Make for Thyself a cradle meet, 
And take Thy rest within my heart, 
Which from Thee nevermore shall parti" 
227 



RIPENING CORN 



When, four years before his own death, his 
beloved little daughter fell asleep in her father's 
arms, he murmured, " Oh, how I love her ! If 
the flesh is so strong, what must the spirit be ! I 
am angry with myself for not rejoicing and being 
thankful." Gazing tearfully upon her shrouded 
form, he said, " Oh, dear little one, thou shalt 
surely rise again, and shine as a star, yea, even 
as the sun ! I have sent a saint, a living saint, 
to heaven. Would that such a death might 
come to us ! I should welcome it this very hour." 
It was a sad time for him, troubled as he was 
by the chaos that seemed to be threatening his 
work. But he never lost heart, even in the dark- 
est hours, because his life was hid with Christ in 

God. 

The Mistakes of a Giant. — Luther unquestion- 
ably made mistakes. Certainly he erred in as- 
senting to the secret bigamy of Philip of Hesse. 
Some believe that his own marriage, under the 
circumstances, was a mistake. Schafr* says that 
he did it impulsively, to " please his father, tease 
the Pope, and vex the devil." Again, he is fre- 
quently chidden for his harsh language, and for 
his obstinate attitude towards Zwingli. Yet even 
his greatest errors grew somehow out of his 
very greatness. Luther was almost overly great, 
—he was Cyclopean, Titanic. He seemed intel- 
lectually to have a sort of orbit vision. If we 

228 



LUTHER 

conceive truth to be a sphere, whereof ordinary 
men can see but the half, it would almost seem 
that Luther could see all points of the sphere at 
once. That is to say, he could always " see the 
other side." This power made him extremely 
tolerant and catholic in matters that he did not 
deem essentials, whereas in these he was abso- 
lutely single-minded and determined. One of the 
mottoes of the Reformation was, " In essentials, 
unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, 
charity." It is this orbit vision of his which 
produces passages in his writings that are liable 
to misconstruction. He is claimed and quoted 
by pernicious doctrinaires who can see only a 
single point of truth where he seemed able actu- 
ally to get a partial glimpse of the entire sphere. 
His mistakes were the mistakes of a giant. 

Luther compared with Paul. — Mention has 
been often made of the likeness between the char- 
acters of Luther and St. Paul. Even Renan per- 
ceives it, and he had scant sympathy with either. 
In his life of St. Paul, the French sceptic says, 
" That historical character which upon the whole 
bears most analogy to St. Paul is Luther. In 
both there is the same violence in language, the 
same passion, the same energy, the same noble 
independence, the same frantic attachment to a 
thesis conceived as the truth." The analogy is 
not confined to character, but may be traced also 

229 



RIPENING CORN 



in the careers of the two men. This parallel may- 
be fanciful, but it is certainly interesting. Paul 
was brought up a Pharisee of the Pharisees, Lu- 
ther a Catholic of the Catholics. Both received 
scholarly and yet devotional training, Paul under 
Gamaliel, Luther influenced by Staupitz. Both 
were driven by the compulsion of an inner expe- 
rience to find solace in the gospel instead of in 
the law. Both therefore broke with their re- 
ligion, — Paul with Judaism, Luther with Rome. 
Both were persecuted, and escaped their foes 
only by the stratagem of their friends (see Acts 
ix. 25). Paul's intrepid journey to Jerusalem 
(Acts xxi. 13) is paralleled by Luther's journey 
to Worms; Paul's defence before Agrippa by 
Luther's before Charles. Both had to contend 
with fanatics who abused the liberty of the gos- 
pel; both had to rebuke their chief associates 
for weakness, — Paul withstanding Peter, Luther 
reproving Melanchthon. Finally, if any one de- 
sires a parallel for the plain speech of Luther in 
the writings of St. Paul, he has but to read the 
Greek of certain passages in the Epistles which 
our translations have euphemized. 

What St. Paul's writings did for the church 
of every age, Luther's writings did for the 
church of the Reformation. He was a volumi- 
nous author. His most important work, of 
course, was the translation of the Bible, finally 

230 



LUTHER 

completed in 1534. His original writings have 
often been compared with those of St. Paul. 
Renan, again, says that in all literature " the 
work which resembles most in spirit the Epistle 
to the Galatians is Luther's * Babylonian Cap- 
tivity of the Church/ ; His remarkable essay 
on " The Liberty of a Christian Man" abounds 
in the brilliant, almost blinding, flashes of para- 
doxical truths for which St. Paul is famous. 
His " Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans' ' 
might have been written by St. Paul himself, — 
must have been written by a man who had lived 
St. Paul's experiences. The chief reason for all 
of this striking similarity of style and matter lies 
in the simple fact that the Paul-like Luther did 
in effect but rediscover St. Paul. The first great 
principle of the Reformation was the supreme 
authority and efficacy of the word of God, which 
St. Paul had called " the power of God unto 
salvation." It, not the church, nor the councils, 
nor the Pope, was to furnish the only infallible 
rule of faith and practice. And the heart of the 
word of God Luther proclaimed to be the doc- 
trine of justification by faith. This he drew 
bodily from the Epistles of St. Paul. The truth 
is, the " Church of St. Peter" had practically 
forgotten all about St. Paul, and had forgotten 
most of the Bible. Paul and his " power" were 
buried beneath the rubbish of tradition and the 

231 



RIPENING CORN 



solid rock of a superb institution. Luther's work 
was the overthrow of this institution, — in so far, 
at least, as it served as a sepulchre, — and a ruth- 
less sweeping away of traditions. The word, 
uncovered, did the rest. The Reformation was 
but a return to the apostles. The reformer led 
back to the planter. Ruler and mystic had had 
their day, had served their part, but the church 
had lost the seed which is the word, and Luther 
was the farmer-monk who found it again. And 
the power of the seed does not lie in the husk, 
which is works, but in the kernel, which begets 
" faith in the bottom of the heart." 

Luther compared with Bernard. — The story of 
the monk Bernard was beautiful, but it was also 
passing sad. Its sadness consists in its solitude. 
Somehow the life of Bernard, whom Luther 
called the holiest of monks, lacked strikingly the 
power of self-perpetuation. He was startlingly 
alone. There was not that in his life which had 
power to communicate itself to other lives and 
transform them, as he had been transformed. 
He remains to this day a unique specimen of a 
wonderful solitary fruit, a " hidden ear," hung 
in the church's granary for men to admire; he 
did not become a seed. He had " the form of 
godliness," good works; but somehow he could 
not transmit to the world " the power thereof." 
His life was hidden, immature, imperfect. It- 

232 



LUTHER 

self the fruit of a dwarfed and degenerate seed, 
it could not regenerate others. It is as though 
one should discover, on a stalk of growing corn, 
a beautiful hidden ear. To the outer vision this 
ear seems perfect in form and development. But, 
strip down the husks, look into the heart of the 
ear, and you see that the grain lacks that fulness 
and hardness and ripeness which alone mean re- 
productive power. Pluck such an ear from the 
stalk, let the grain fall into the ground and die, — 
will it hear fruit a hundred- fold ? Such was the 
beautiful life of Bernard. He died, and the 
world went on as before. His fruit had been 
lovely and fair, but it had missed its fulness ; it 
had not been filled out by faith. His story there- 
fore remains a mere biography, it is not history ; 
the record of a career, not of a movement. He 
became a model, but he never became a life. He 
was an example, but not a seed. 

Luther, on the other hand, became a tremen- 
dous force in the world, not only for his own 
time, but increasingly with the times to come. 
It is not that his works were holier than those 
of the saintly Bernard, but that he had the ker- 
nel of faith in the bottom of the heart. His was 
not a hidden life. Yet the glory is not to him, 
but to the divine principle within him. As in no 
age since the planting of the church, has the pe- 
riod since the Reformation witnessed the power 

233 



RIPENING CORN 



of " the full corn in the ear," the power of a 
reduplicating life. The quickening power of the 
church to-day touches thousands of human lives 
and transforms them, because it is a life impel- 
ling from within, not an example beckoning 
from without. " So is the kingdom of God, as if 
a man should cast seed into the ground ; and the 
seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth 
not how ; first the blade, then the ear, after that 
the full corn in the ear." Each age has had its 
planters, and its rulers, and its mystics, and its re- 
formers. But the signal glory of this age is not 
its planting, wide as that has been, nor yet the 
spreading of the blade at the magic touch of 
Christian rulership, nor yet the hidden saintly 
lives of its meditative mystics. The glory of this 
age is that the church is becoming reformed 
through having the spirit of Christ formed 
within it. The ripening corn of this present 
Christian age receives its nutrifying milk from 
the sincere, uncovered word. 

3. RESULTS OF THE REFORMATION 
Hostile Testimony. — The writer of this book 
is a Protestant. As such, he recognizes that he 
may be in danger of bias when telling the story 
of the German Reformation, and particularly 
when coming to speak of its results. He there- 
fore begs permission to call to the stand at this 

234 



LUTHER 

juncture a witness who can scarcely be sus- 
pected of partiality towards Luther or Luther- 
ans, seeing that he is a veteran " champion of 
the Catholic point of view" in various contro- 
versial writings. This author, who is secretary 
to the Catholic Union of Great Britain, has re- 
cently produced a singularly interesting study 
called " Renaissance Types," to which this little 
book is already considerably indebted; and it is 
in the course of his somewhat hostile chapter on 
"Luther, the Revolutionist," that Mr. W. S. 
Lilly has this to say concerning the results of 
Luther's work : 

" Of the greatness, the Titanic greatness of 
the man, there can be no question. The great- 
ness of the Revolution wrought by him is mani- 
fest to all men. We may, with strict accuracy, 
ascribe to him the Protestant Reformation and 
all that came of it. The Continental Reformers, 
however much their private judgments may have 
differed from his, were clearly his spiritual off- 
spring. The Anglican Reformation differed 
from the Continental in this, that in its incep- 
tion it was rather political than religious. Henry 
VIII. rebelled not against Catholic dogma, but 
against papal supremacy. But after his death 
the direction of the ecclesiastical movement ini- 
tiated by him passed into the hands of Cranmer, 
a disciple of Luther ; and to Cranmer are due the 

235 



RIPENING CORN 



changes in a Protestant sense made in the com- 
munion and ordination offices of the Church of 
England. The doctrine to this day distinctive 
of the many varieties of what we may call 
' orthodox' Protestantism, as opposed to its ra- 
tionalistic developments, is Luther's doctrine of 
justification by faith alone. For Luther, faith 
meant the personal appropriation by the indi- 
vidual of the redeeming work of Christ ; a fidu- 
ciary trust in Him ; a laying hold of Him which 
effects an imputation of His righteousness. This 
is what he called ' the gospel.' The term is still 
used in that sense in popular Protestantism, 
which accounts of l saving faith' precisely as he 
did. Now, it is certain that this doctrine, how- 
ever we may feel towards it, was Luther's own 
particular and original deduction from the Paul- 
ine Epistles. Not a trace of it is to be found in 
any theologian from the second to the sixteenth 
century.* It is as unknown to the earliest 
fathers as to the latest schoolmen. For them, 
one and all, faith means assent to the proposi- 
tions revealed by Christianity; belief in truths 



* " Luther no doubt imagined that he had discovered 
some warrant for this dogma in the writings of St. Au- 
gustine. But as Cardinal Newman has shown in his 
' Lectures on Justification/ published in 1838, the Lu- 
theran teaching is quite irreconcilable with the Augus- 
tinian.' , — W. S. L. 

236 



LUTHER 

taught by the Catholic church. So much is in- 
dubitable as mere matter of historical fact, apart 
from religious controversy, with which we are 
not now concerned. And it is sufficient to war- 
rant us in regarding that ' orthodox' or evan- 
gelical Protestantism, which is still a consider- 
able power in the world, as Luther's creation. 
Nor is it only in the distinctly religious domain 
that Luther's teaching has been so influential and 
so far-reaching. The French revolutionists, like 
the Anabaptists before them, merely applied in 
the sphere of politics the principles which Luther 
had laid down in the sphere of theology. They 
are debtors to Luther for that doctrine of the 
sovereignty of the individual which is the very 
foundation of Rousseau's ' Contrat Social' and 
of ' The Declaration of the Rights of Man and 
the Citizen,' formulated by Rousseau's disciples. 
" But more. It is beyond question — to speak 
ex hutnano die — that Luther's revolution was the 
salvation of the papal church. A Catholic histo- 
rian has called the Council of Trent the greatest 
thing effected by him. The reformation wrought 
there was, indeed, too long delayed. In spite of 
Clement VII. 's repeated promises of a General 
Council, none was summoned during his disas- 
trous Pontificate. At length the fears and fore- 
bodings of the Roman Curia were obliged to 
give way to the exigencies of the times, and the 

237 



RIPENING CORN 



solemn sessions of the Tridentine fathers began. 
It cannot be maintained that the august assem- 
bly was as ecumenical in its composition as in its 
claims. No candid historian will deny the vast 
gain to the Christian world from its labors. As 
little will he deny that the predominance of the 
Italian element in it obscured its representative 
character, narrowed its sympathies, and marred 
its reforming work. But Luther's revolution 
served the cause of Catholicism in another way. 
It imposed upon Catholics the necessity of giving 
a rational account of the faith that was in them. 
It sent them back to a study of the sources of 
their doctrines, long buried under a mass of 
sophisms and superstitions. It quickened into 
new life both their theology and their philosophy. 
Nor is this all. In religion, as elsewhere, 
perpetual combat is the law and the condition 
of vitality. Nisard remarks, ' Les croyances dis- 
putees sont les seules qui sont profondes, outre 
que les memes combats qui renouvellent les 
esprits denouvellent les caracteres.' [*] These 
words are true to the letter, and Germany offers 
an admirable illustration of them. The struggle 
for existence imposed there upon Catholicism 
by contiguous Protestantism has had the most 

* [" Controverted beliefs are the only ones that are 
profound; besides, the same controversies that 
strengthen the intellect strengthen also the character."] 

238 



LUTHER 

salutary effect upon it. At the present time Ger- 
man Catholics form, so to speak, the backbone 
of the Roman Communion. They take a large 
share in, they exercise a wholesome influence on, 
not only the political but the mental and moral 
life of their country. In the domain of history — 
and especial of mediaeval history — they hold a 
unique place. Their theological faculties are 
really learned. Even in scientific biblical criti- 
cism, so little cultivated, as a rule, by the spiritual 
subjects of the Pope, some of them have attained 
a well-earned reputation. In philosophy they 
have not only successfully defended the chief 
positions of the scholastics, but have built solidly 
thereon. It is a marvellous contrast to the intel- 
lectual decadence exhibited by Catholicism in 
countries where the Lutheran revolution never 
entered, or where it was repressed by the fires of 
inquisitors and the swords of dragoons." 

The Counter-Reformation. — So great, indeed, 
was the effect wrought upon the Roman Catholic 
church by the Lutheran movement that it re- 
ceived the name of the Counter-Reformation. 
Dating from the accession of Pope Paul III., in 
1534, it sought the twofold object of an outward 
recuperation from the numerical losses inflicted 
by Protestantism, and an inward purification 
from the corruption which Luther had so ruth- 
lessly exposed. 

239 



RIPENING CORN 



Roman Catholic Missions. — One of the chief 
agencies for the accomplishment of the former 
purpose was the reawakening of the spirit of 
missions, which had lain practically dormant 
throughout a protracted barren period. The so- 
ciety of the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola 
in 1540, pledged all of its members " to obey in 
all things the reigning Pope, — to go into any 
country, to Turks, heathen, or heretics, or to 
whomsoever he might send them, at once, un- 
conditionally, without question or reward." 
Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, became one of the most 
successful missionaries in the history of Chris- 
tendom ; laboring with marvellous success in In- 
dia and Japan, being reputed to have won to the 
Roman church more souls in Asia than had been 
lost by the Reformation in Europe. Matthew 
Ricci carried Catholicism to the Chinese, while 
the newly discovered continents on the other side 
of the world were by no means neglected. Jesuit 
missionaries gained a foothold in South America 
which remains firm to this day, and were scarcely 
less successful in the extreme North, as is testi- 
fied by the large numbers of Catholics to be 
found in " New France," or Canada. The inner 
reforms secured by the Council of Trent ( 1 545- 
1563) have been already intimated by Mr. Lilly. 
This council was also serviceable to the Roman 

church in fortifying it against the battering-ram 

240 



LUTHER 

of Protestantism by an emphatic reaffirmation of 
the traditional Roman Catholic beliefs, so that 
multitudes of the wavering were steadied into 
loyalty again by a voice which had the tone of 
authority. The immeasurable purification of the 
Roman church during the last four hundred 
years is unquestionably due, in very large meas- 
ure, to the sweeping influence of the German 
Reformation. 

The French Revolution. — It is not to be de- 
nied, on the other hand, that the German Refor- 
mation is largely responsible for that awful reign 
of terror and deluge of blood known as the 
French Revolution. Luther's work for civiliza- 
tion as such was nothing less than the unfetter- 
ing of the human mind, the release of the indi- 
vidual from bondage to institutional authority. 
There had been tyrants before the later Louises, 
but there had been no Luther. This doughty 
German had dared to awaken the consciousness 
of power in the hitherto crushed and humbled 
" masses," and the result, in fiery France, was 
volcanic. Luther's noble doctrines of the lib- 
erty of a Christian man, the universal priesthood 
of believers, and the brotherhood of the family of 
God, were dwarfed and compressed into that ter- 
rific whirlwind cry of " Liberty, Equality, and 
Fraternity," which really spelled the terrible 
words, License, Anarchy, and Fratricide. The 
16 241 



RIPENING CORN 



human mind is so frailly anchored to the rock of 
right that when some fresh breath of truth sud- 
denly blows from out the blue, there is immi- 
nence of capsizing and wreck. And that is what 
happened when the German gale blew upon the 
volatile French. Yet God ever maketh the wrath 
of man to praise Him. We know now that the 
French Revolution was really a blessing in dis- 
guise, a great broom for the cleansing of Augean 
stables, a fearsome thunderstorm which cleared 
the air of all Europe and let in the sunshine of 
human liberty. 

America. — Moreover, as Dr. Conrad points 
out (and he but follows the example of Michel et 
and Carlyle), " the principles of the Reformation 
were brought to America and embodied in the 
Declaration of Independence and in the Consti- 
tution of the United States. Under the govern- 
ment thus organized the people choose their own 
rulers, and their civil and religious rights are 
protected by law. And it is not too much to say 
that the priceless blessings of liberty and the 
rights of conscience and worship which the 
American people enjoy are the direct and indirect 
results of the truths and principles proclaimed by 
Luther more than three hundred and fifty years 
ago." Said Charles Dudley Warner, " The 
United States, Great Britain and its world-encir- 
cling colonies, Holland and its dependencies, the 

242 



LUTHER 

German Empire, are to-day what they are largely 
because of the life of Martin Luther." 

Education. — Luther's influence on the cause of 
popular education was immediate and profound. 
" Luther on Education" is the descriptive title 
of Professor Painter's thorough treatment of this 
important subject. He renovated education in 
all of its grades, for he believed, even as he said, 
that " the strength and glory of a town does not 
depend on its wealth, its walls, its great man- 
sions, its powerful armaments, but on the num- 
ber of its learned, serious, kind, and well-edu- 
cated citizens." Particularly did he recommend 
the study of literature, since languages are the 
" scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit, 
the casket that guards the jewels, the baskets 
which carry the loaves and fishes for the feeding 
of the multitude." At how many points did this 
great man touch the full circle of human life, 
with all of its manifold needs and aspirations! 
By such measure is his influence broad and deep 
to-day. 

It only remains, now, briefly to trace the re- 
sults of the Reformation in its own distinctive 
sphere, the spread of Protestantism, and our 
work is done. 

Scandinavia. — The three kingdoms of Scandi- 
navia followed close upon Germany in loyalty to 
the strictly Lutheran faith. Gustavus Vasa, who 

243 



RIPENING CORN 



became king of Sweden in 1523, favored Prot- 
estantism, which had already been preached by 
the two brothers Petersen, disciples of Luther. 
The Lutheran creed was adopted, to the exclu- 
sion of every other, and the bishops came over 
bodily into the Lutheran church. Denmark fol- 
lowed this example, under King Christian III. ; 
and in 1536 the Reformation passed over also 
into Norway. When, in the year 161 8, Europe 
became involved in that terrible religious and po- 
litical conflict known as the Thirty Years' War, 
— one of the fiercest and most protracted in 
history, — the Protestant side met with defeat 
after defeat, and the Reformation might have 
ended after all in chaos, had not Sweden come 
to the rescue, after Denmark had fought in 
vain. The chief cause of this terrible struggle 
was a desperate effort on the part of Rome 
to nullify the peace concluded at Augsburg in 
1555, and once more to fix spiritual fetters on 

Europe. 

Gustavus Adolphus. — But in the year 1630 
Gustavus Adolphus, the noble Protestant ruler 
of Sweden, landed with his army on the north 
coast of Germany, whence he marched towards 
the south, sweeping everything before him, and 
henceforth becoming champion to the crushed 
and bleeding Protestants of Germany. The de- 
cisive battle of the great war was fought at 

244 



LUTHER 

Lutzen, November 6, 1632. On his way to this 
struggle, when the joyous Germans hailed him 
with shouts of grateful acclaim, the knightly 
king replied, " Think not of me, for I am nothing 
but a weak and dying man. Think only of the 
cause." As the lines were drawn up for battle, 
prayers were devoutly said at the head of each 
regiment, and then Luther's battle-hymn pealed 
forth in all its rugged grandeur. The king 
waved his sword above his head and gave the 
command to advance, with the words : " For- 
ward, in God's Name ! Jesu, Jesu, Jesu ! Help 
us to strive to-day to the honor of Thy Holy 
Name !" Forward on his white charger rode the 
king into the battle, never to come out alive. He 
fell, and news of the disaster was conveyed to the 
Swedish army by the sight of the riderless white 
horse, streaming with blood too red to be his 
own, as he tore wildly along in front of the lines 
of battle. When the Catholic cavaliers stood 
over the prostrate king and demanded to know 
his name, he gave the immortal reply : " I am 
the king of Sweden, who do seal the religion and 
liberty of the German nation with my blood." 
They plunged their swords again and again into 
the breast of the dying man, but his words, in 
spite of sword-thrusts, were destined to be ful- 
filled. His army, faithful to their leader in 
death as in life, gained a complete victory over 

245 



RIPENING CORN 



their foes, and Protestantism was saved. The 
Treaty of Westphalia terminated the Thirty 
Years' War, and forever established the great 
principle of religious toleration. Gustavus 
Adolphus did not live and die in vain. 

The Lutherans. — The Evangelical Lutheran 
church, whose formal bond of union is the 
Augsburg Confession, comprises to-day a total 
baptized membership of nearly sixty million 
souls, of whom five-sixths are to be found in 
Europe. Germany and Scandinavia are the 
Lutheran strongholds. In North America 
growth has been very rapid during the last 
twenty years, so that the Lutheran and Presby- 
terian churches now vie with each other for 
third rank in the matter of numerical strength, 
the Methodists and Baptists leading. The Lu- 
theran church has grave difficulties to contend 
with in this country, arising chiefly from the 
fact that it must deal with large numbers of 
communicants who do not speak the English 
language, and are not yet in touch with Ameri- 
can institutions. Lutheran ministers preach the 
gospel in fourteen different languages in the 
United States, and superintend the transition 
of the children of thousands of European parents 
into a true American citizenship, thus achieving 
a home mission work of enormous magnitude 

and of untold importance. 

246 



LUTHER 

Calvinism. — Next to Luther, the greatest ec- 
clesiastical figure of Reformation times was John 
Calvin (i 509-1 564). This reformer was born 
and educated in France, but adopted Switzer- 
land as his home, when, in 1536, he was exiled 
from his native land for adherence to the Prot- 
estant faith. Luther was twenty-five years old 
when Calvin was born, and they never met. 
The Genevan was, however, profoundly influ- 
enced by the German's teaching, with which in 
many points he agreed, as is proved by his ac- 
ceptance of a revision of the Augsburg Confes- 
sion. The chief doctrinal controversy within 
the ranks of the Protestants occurred between 
Luther and the Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, 
nominally on the subject of the Lord's Supper, 
which really involved, however, the more im- 
portant questions of the supremacy of the word, 
and the person of Christ. Zwingli reduced the 
Eucharist to a mere memorial, depriving it of 
all efficacy whatever. Luther, while repudiating 
both transubstantiation and also that other view 
sometimes attributed to him, and known as con- 
substantiation, stood firm for the doctrine of 
the real presence of the Lord, through the word. 
Calvin characterized the rationalizing views of 
Zwingli as " false and pernicious," expressing 
his preference for Luther's. He endeavored, 

however, to mediate between the two positions. 

247 



RIPENING CORN 



Moreover, the rigorously logical character of 
his mind worked out theories connected with the 
Divine Sovereignty and the human will, which 
gave a very distinctive character to Calvinism 
as a system of Protestant theology. His great 
work, the " Institutes," had a profound influ- 
ence in shaping the doctrines of the later church, 
especially through the medium of the famous 
Westminster Confession (1647). Calvin as- 
sumed the leadership of the Swiss Reformation 
after the death of Zwingli in battle, in the year 
1 53 1, and became the leader of the " Reformed" 
churches, as distinguished from the Lutheran. 
His influence extended to France, among the 
Huguenots; to Scotland, where his fellow-be- 
lievers became known as Presbyterians; and 
to the Netherlands, the home of the Dutch Re- 
formed church. The Protestants in these three 
lands remain Calvinistic to the present day. 
John Knox, the hero of the Scotch Reformation, 
sat humbly at his feet, and " became more Cal- 
vinistic than Calvin." The Protestant church 
in Scotland took the distinctive name " Presby- 
terian" on account of a form of government 
developed by Calvin's legislative genius, whereof 
the central idea consists in a popular representa- 
tion of the congregation by elders, — or " pres- 
byters," to use a word of the Greek New Testa- 
ment. The term " Huguenots," employed to 

248 



LUTHER 

characterize the Protestants of France, is of 
uncertain origin, but was probably a nickname 
imported from Geneva. These French Calvinists 
have lived through seasons of heavy stress and 
storm. Persecuted continually by the papal 
monarchs, they nevertheless, survived, numerous 
and powerful, noted for their austere virtues 
and the singular purity of their lives. The cli- 
max of persecution was reached on St. Bartholo- 
mew's Day of 1572, when as many as thirty 
thousand Protestants were murdered upon pre- 
concerted signal throughout the empire. Politi- 
cal and civil rights were secured to them at length 
by the Edict of Nantes in 1598, but the fierce 
persecutions ensuing upon its revocation under 
Louis XIV. in 1685 forced hundreds of thou- 
sands into exile, many coming to our own coun- 
try, and especially to South Carolina. In the 
city of Charleston is an ancient Huguenot 
church, where the descendants of these indomi- 
table folk still worship with the unchanged his- 
toric liturgy of their fathers. 

The various bodies known as the Calvinistic 
churches have stood with distinctive pre-emi- 
nence among Protestants for the Christian use 
of the law. Presbyterian communities are every- 
where notable as upright, intelligent, law- 
abiding people. They stand with unswerving 
steadfastness for the integrity of the Lord's Day, 

249 



RIPENING CORN 



for temperance, for the manifestation of faith 
through good works. The religious life of Scot- 
land bears strong witness to the inherent value 
of the Calvinistic ethic; and our own young 
country owes much to the steadying influence 
of these sturdy folk who believe in Christian 
liberty, but are ever ready to protest against an 
un-Christian license. 

England. — As has been already noted, the 
English Reformation received its visible impulse 
rather from things political than religious, al- 
though religious influences had been long at 
work. The immediate occasion for throwing off 
the yoke of Rome was afforded by the effective 
protest of King Henry VIII. against the incon- 
venient authority of the Pope, instead of against 
abuses within the church itself. As Shakespeare 
tersely expresses it, the king's " conscience had 
crept too near another lady." The bare fact is, 
that Clement VII. had quite properly refused 
to salve Henry's conscience by affirming his di- 
vorce from Catherine of Aragon and his mar- 
riage with Anne Boleyn. So, while Henry re- 
mained in the Roman Catholic faith to the end 
of his days, he nevertheless struck Catholicism 
a vital blow in successfully repudiating the papal 
authority by the passage of the " Act of Su- 
premacy," in 1534. This, doubtless, he would 
not have been able to accomplish but for the 

250 



LUTHER 

damage already wrought by Luther. Efforts 
were made to bring reformer and ruler together, 
but spicy literary remains show that the effort 
was vain. Luther and Henry, to state the case 
mildly, were somewhat opposite types. Never- 
theless, a popular movement towards a real Prot- 
estantism was now gradually making its way 
throughout England, aided by the dissemination 
of the reformers' writings, but chiefly by means 
of vernacular Bible translations, culminating at 
the last in the masterly " Authorized Version" 
of King James, in the year 161 1. After Henry's 
death, Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, became leader of the Reformation, and 
through him as a medium England is largely 
indebted to the work of the German reformers. 
During Henry's lifetime Cranmer had spent a 
year and a half in Germany, becoming thor- 
oughly imbued with the teachings and spirit of 
Luther. The Thirty-nine Articles are manifestly 
based upon the Augsburg Confession, as Epis- 
copal writers declare, while the first Prayer- 
Book of the Church of England bears an ex- 
tremely close agreement with the antecedent 
Lutheran service, with which Cranmer had an 
intimate acquaintance. From 15 13 to 1549 
there were " constantly recurring embassies and 
conferences between the Anglican and Lutheran 
divines and rulers." Those wishing to pursue 

251 



RIPENING CORN 



this question farther will be interested by Ja- 
cobs's " Lutheran Movement in England," which 
treats the subject exhaustively. A violent at- 
tempt was made by the Roman Catholic queen, 
" Bloody Mary," to undo Protestantism in Eng- 
land, but in this case again the blood of the 
martyrs proved to be the seed of the church. 
Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer were publicly 
burned at the stake, three among hundreds of 
martyrs; but the church continued to grow. 
Under Elizabeth a state Protestantism regained 
the ascendency, surviving the shock with Puri- 
tanism, and becoming fixed with the restoration 
of the Stuart dynasty in an episcopal form which 
continues to the present time as the state church 
of England. 

Not only has the Episcopal church had un- 
usually full share in the development of Chris- 
tian philanthropy, but it may be said with 
distinctive emphasis that no other body of Prot- 
estants has conserved so much of historic dig- 
nity, or paid so much attention to historic prac- 
tices, as the Episcopalians. Refusing the 
Lutheran doctrine of a " universal priesthood of 
believers," they have retained belief in the 
priestly rank, and by the doctrine of an apos- 
tolic succession have emphasized their connec- 
tion with the mighty church of the past. Noth- 
ing in the glorious heritage of Christian aesthetic 

252 



LUTHER 

do they despise, but dignify their edifices with 
the touch of art, as their worship with the music 
of poetry. Not a few Anglican churches rival 
the cathedrals of Rome no less in the sensuous 
charm of their ritual than in the elegance of 
their artistic embellishment. Thus Protestant- 
ism has not failed to conserve an inheritance in 
Christian aesthetic, to guard its birthright to 
Catholic culture, as expressed in art and in 
poetry and music. The Episcopalians also de- 
serve especial recognition for the efforts they 
have frequently made towards the organic unity 
of the church at large. 

Puritanism. — Puritanism made its appear- 
ance in England as early as the reign of Edward 
VI. An extreme development of Protestantism, 
it stringently opposed the retention of any forms 
or customs that had been used in the church 
of Rome, whereas the conservatives had fol- 
lowed the principle of rejecting only such things 
as were contrary to Scripture. The ethical force 
of Puritanism was very great, standing again 
for an ascetic type of Christian life and con- 
duct. During the persecutions inflicted by Queen 
Mary many Puritans fled to the continent of 
Europe, whence they returned upon the acces- 
sion of Elizabeth, only to find themselves in con- 
flict with what they deemed the popish tendencies 
of her reign. State measures were adopted to 

253 



RIPENING CORN 



secure uniformity of worship through the con- 
straint and suppression of these " dissenters," 
and under James I. the laws became so strict 
as to cause a large migration into Holland. 
In the year 1620, a hundred and one members 
of this exiled pilgrim band sought religious free- 
dom in the new world, whither they sailed in 
the famous little " Mayflower," to become the 
sturdy settlers of New England. The religious 
denomination of these pilgrim Puritans is known 
as " Congregationalism," because of the su- 
premacy of the congregation in matters of 
government, doctrine, and discipline. The Puri- 
tan theology was extremely Calvinistic and ex- 
tremely legalistic in its character. But a reaction 
from both of these positions has taken place 
throughout New England, whereof the most 
striking evidences may be seen in the Unitarian 
and Universalist movements; as well as in the 
ultra-liberal school of " the new theology," 
within the ranks of the Congregationalists them- 
selves. The watchword with the leaders of this 
school is Progress, their aim being an adaptation 
of Christianity to changed conditions, a " recon- 
ciliation" of theology with science. The English 
Puritans made their power felt forever under 
the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, with conse= 
quences of profound significance for the cause 
of Christian civilization. 

254 



LUTHER 

Methodism. — " Methodism," originally so- 
called in ridicule of the methodical habits prac- 
tised by the two Wesleys and their friends at 
Oxford, arose during the middle of the eigh- 
teenth century as a protest and reformation 
within the Church of England, dating its begin- 
nings synchronously with the career of the 
famous John Wesley (i 703-1 791), whom Philip 
Schaff calls " the most apostolic man that the 
Anglo-Saxon race has produced." He and his 
brother Charles, the sweet singer of Protestant- 
ism, came in 1735 on a brief mission to Georgia, 
being greatly influenced during the journey by 
the piety of a band of German Protestants trav- 
elling to the same Southern colony. The growth 
of the movement was largely aided in its be- 
ginnings by the wonderful preaching of George 
Whitefleld, a man of almost superhuman powers 
of persuasive eloquence. Methodism, which is 
Arminian * as to its theology, and episcopal in 
government, has rapidly developed into a pro- 
digious power in Christendom, ranking to-day 

* Jacobus Arminius, or James Harmensen (1560- 
1609), was a Dutch theologian who opposed the Cal- 
vinistic doctrine of election with the tenet of universal 
grace, holding that election is conditioned by faith. His 
ideas gained wide acceptance, the two opposing schools 
of orthodox Protestant theology to-day being known as 
Calvinistic and Arminian, with Lutheranism holding its 
original middle ground between the two. 

255 



RIPENING CORN 



as one of the largest and most influential bodies 
of Protestantism. Concerning the historical 
significance of this movement, we will hear the 
testimony of the British historian, J. R. Green, 
a clergyman of the English church. After de- 
scribing the deplorable condition of religious 
indifference into which England had fallen, the 
historian reminds us that the country neverthe- 
less remained religious at heart; that in the 
middle classes the old Puritan spirit still lived 
on, unchanged. " It was from this class that a 
religious revival burst forth which changed 
after a time the whole tone of English society. 
The church was restored to life and activity. 
Religion carried to the hearts of the people a 
fresh spirit of moral zeal, while it purified our 
literature and our manners. ... A yet nobler 
result of the religious revival was the steady 
attempt, which has never ceased from that day 
to this, to remedy the guilt, the ignorance, the 
physical suffering, the social degradation of the 
profligate and the poor. It was not till the Wes- 
leyan impulse had done its work that this philan- 
thropic influence began." It is in Methodism, 
moreover, that we see the survival and develop- 
ment of that school of pietism which arose in 
Germany during the seventeenth century, under 
the leadership of Spener and Francke, — an in- 
fluence that will always be needed to protect the 

256 



LUTHER 

church against the dangers of an ever-threaten- 
ing formalism. 

Baptists. — The various " Baptist" denomina- 
tions date their origin from Reformation times, 
the movement first appearing in Switzerland 
about the year 1523, and in later years gaining 
a widespread following throughout Europe and 
America,* and in missionary fields. The Bap- 
tists have, indeed, been distinguished for their 
aggressive methods of evangelization, setting in 
this respect an example well worthy of emulation 
by the more conservative bodies of Protestant- 
ism. While the work of Protestant missions 
had begun in the year 1705, when Ziegenbalg 
and Pliitschau were sent out through the in- 
fluence of Francke from Halle to Tranquebar, 
yet it was left for the Baptists to take the lead 
among English-speaking Protestants, and to 
effect the definite formation of regular mission- 
ary organizations, which have been a distinctive 
and prominent feature in the development of 
the church throughout the nineteenth century. 
The beginning was made in the year 1792, by 
the organization of the first Baptist missionary 
society, which the next year sent William Carey, 
the zealous " shoemaker missionary," out to 
India. 

* Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in 
this country, in the year 1639. 
17 257 



RIPENING CORN 



Diversity in Unity. — So it is that Protestant- 
ism springs out in various branches from the 
parent stem, each separate growth following its 
own particular bent, achieving a diversity for 
which we have often been reproached, but, be 
it noted, a diversity in unity. For the various 
branches of Protestantism are all one in that 
they cling with greater or less tenacity to the 
great Protestant principle of justification by 
faith and to the word of God as the supreme 
means through which this saving faith is be- 
stowed. The several bodies have each contrib- 
uted somewhat of distinctive value to the church 
as a whole, and it is a very open question, in- 
deed, as to whether the abused " divisions" of 
Protestantism have really hindered the develop- 
ment of the kingdom of God. The various 
regiments of an army do but lend greater effi- 
cacy to an organism which, after all, has but 
one head. And we see that this efficacy has 
manifested itself in a most striking manner if 
we watch the militant growth of the kingdom. 
The last command of " the Captain of our sal- 
vation" rang with the note of a world-wide 
conquest, as He said, " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature!" The 
regimental divisions of Protestantism have, dur- 
ing the last century, shown a zeal in the fulfil- 
ment of this command scarcely witnessed since 

358 



LUTHER 



apostolic times. A spirit of generous rivalry, 
of religious competition, so to speak, resulting 
from the existence of separate bodies, has un- 
questionably been largely instrumental in effect- 
ing this result. 

Diversity begets Activity.— Those greatly err 
who would set forth the divisions of Christen- 
dom as a hinderance to missionary effort. The 
friction which occasionally occurs has been as 
nothing in comparison with the augmented ac- 
tivity. We saw how the first effect of a divided 
church in Reformation times was to awaken and 
stimulate missionary activity in the church of 
Rome. So, also, now we see that the same cen- 
tury that witnessed the completed organization 
of the various large denominations of Protest- 
antism witnessed, moreover, the entrance of 
these militant bodies into the still unconquered 
East, in a spirit of aggressive evangelization un- 
known to the church for ages. 

A Law of the Kingdom.— Here let us remind 
ourselves of that strange mystical truth which is 
a law of history no less than of the natural 
world, as Bishop Berkeley perceived when he 
gave it utterance in the famous formula, 
' Westward the course of empire takes its way." 
Movements of history proceed, like the course 
of the sun, in an orbit from the East to the 
West ; then back again, to the East by way of the 

259 



RIPENING CORN 



West. Christianity was an Eastern religion. 
Its origin, we know, was in the little land of 
Palestine/ which nestles against the great 
mother-continent of Asia on the one side, pre- 
cisely as Japan lies on the other side. Now, the 
course which the rays of this new world-light 
took was not back into the continent, but out- 
ward and westward, like the rays of the sun. 
Palestine is neighbor to Persia and Arabia, yet 
Persia and Arabia are not Christian countries. 
Palestine belongs to the same continent as India 
and China, yet India and China are to-day two 
of the greatest fields for missionary activity. 
It is but a step from Palestine across the Isthmus 
of Suez into the great continent of Africa, yet 
to-day Africa is known as the Dark Continent. 
That is because Christianity, the light of the 
world, followed the course of the sun in the dif- 
fusion of its rays. From Palestine the gospel 
first spread towards the West. In almost a 
straight line it journeyed, through the Cilician 
gates, to Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. By the 
commencement of the seventh century we find 
the light so spread as to cover every land in its 
western track to the very outermost edges of 
Gaul and Spain, while the whole northern fringe 
of Africa, lying in the line of light, is ablaze 
with Christian churches. Moreover, from the 
outlying edges of Spain and Gaul the rays have 

260 



LUTHER 

been refracted northward, to Wales and Ireland, 
among the Scots and Picts. During the next 
two centuries the British and the Germans were 
converted; and within the two centuries next 
succeeding the Christian map included the whole 
of Europe. And we know that when those 
Europeans came across the western sea, the light 
came also with them, ever broadening from that 
single star which appeared to the shepherds of 
Palestine, until to-day the entire sweep of Eu- 
rope and this farthest western world is in its 
blessed pathway. Nor is that all. As surely 
as light travels in an orbit, so surely will the 
sweet blessed sunshine, having belted the whole 
wide world, come back into the East from the 
other side, and the gray dawn-land will be uplit 
again. That is the true significance of these 
" modern missions in the East." 

The Church of the Future. — "Then cometh 
the harvest." This is the age of the ripening 
corn, but not of the ripened corn. When " this 
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations, then 
shall the end come." In that day, when the all- 
wise purposes of God shall have been accom- 
plished through the service of His saints, we 
shall see the church of the future, united and 
glorious and free, made one through the Chris- 
tian brotherhood of man. As one has said, the 

261 



RIPENING CORN 



marvellous vision of the imprisoned but un- 
daunted planter, St. Paul, shall then have been 
fulfilled, — when, from the shores *of Asia, once 
the lands of lords many, there shall ascend the 
exulting chorus, " One Lord !" when from the 
watch-towers of Europe, distracted by divisions 
in the faith, there shall roll forth the grateful 
chorus, " One Faith !" when from our own 
Americas, torn by controversies concerning 
baptism, there shall be uttered the great con- 
fession, " One Baptism !" when from the plains 
of Africa, as though the God of all the race 
were not her God, as though the Father of the 
entire human family were not her Father ; when 
from despised and neglected Africa shall ascend 
the triumphant shout, " One God and Father 
of us all !" when the entire human family, gath- 
ered into one vast universal brotherhood, shall 
at last acknowledge and confess " One Lord, one 
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us 
all, who is above all, and through all, and in 
all !" " And the knowledge of God shall cover 
the earth, as the waters cover the sea." The 
growth of the kingdom will have reached its 
golden harvest-time when " the kingdoms of 
this world have become the kingdoms of our 
Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign 
for ever and ever." 



262 



INDEX 



Abelard, 130 ff., 155 ff. 

Acte, 61 

^neid, 41 

^Esthetic, 253 

Africa and missions, 260, 

262 
Alaric, 97 
Albigenses, 190 
Alcuin, 112 

Alexander martyred, 51 
Alexander VI., 189 
Alexandria, 72, 81 
Alfred the Great, in 
Ambrose, 90 

America and Luther, 242 
Anabaptists, 236 n. 
Anacletus, 149, 150 
Anagni, 175 
Anglican reformation, 235, 

250 f f. 
Anglo-Saxons converted, 99 
Anselm, 129 
Anthony, 123 
Antioch, 32, 50, 219 
Antonius Pius, persecutions 

of, 50 
Apollinaris, 88 
Apollo, worship of, 64, 84 ff. 
Apology, 221 

Apostolic succession, 252 
Arch of Constantine, 74 
of Titus, 74 



Argenteuil, 134 
Aristodemus, 41 
Aristotle, 10, 131, 157 
Arius and Arians, 72, 88, 94, 

97, 102 
Arminius and Arminianism, 

255 n. 
Arnold of Brescia, 163 
Athanasius, 72, 90, 94, 123 
Augsburg, 207, 224 

confession, 219, 246 
and Calvin, 247 
and Thirty-nine Ar- 
ticles, 251 
diet, 219 ff. 
peace of, 222, 245 
treaty of, 222, 245 
Augustine, 90, 113, 157, 

236 m 
Augustinians, 199, 200 
Augustus, 107 
Aurelius, persecutions of, 

50, 60 
Austin, 100 
Avignon, 175, 176, 179 

Babylas martyred, 51 
Babylonish captivity, 176, 

179 
Bacon, Roger, 127 
Baptists, 246, 257 
Barbarian invasions, 115 



263 



INDEX 



Barbarism in Europe, n6ff. 


Bernard of Clairvaux, sec- 


Baring-Gould quoted, 101, 


ond crusade, 153 


no, 116 


unselfishness of, 151 


Basel, council of, 177 


youthful choice, 142 


Battle of Liitzen, 245 


Bible, authorized version, 


of Poitiers, 108 


251 


of Tours, 108 


Erasmus, 216 


Beard quoted, 198 


first missionary trans- 


Bede quoted, 98, 100 


lation, 97 


Benedict IX., 118 


Luther, 198, 201, 203, 


of Nursia, 124 


216 


Bernard of Clairvaux, 


Wyclif, 180 


107 f f. 


Birthplace of history, 9 


a type, 15 


Bishops in early church, 92 


austerity, 144, 145 


in England, 101, 252 


birth, 120, 139 


Bloody Mary, 252, 253 


boldness, 152 


Boccaccio, 173 


character, 161 


Bohemia, 181, 185 


compared with Abelard, 


Boniface the missionary, 


163 


101-103 


with Luther, 199, 


VIL. 118 


232 f f. 


VIIL, 174 


conflict with Abelard, 


Book of Concord, 221 


136, 155 ft. 


Borgia family, 189, 191 


consonance with age, 


Brahmanism, 121 


163 


Brescia, 163, 187 


contrast with age, 164 


Bridget, 98 


death, 165 


Britain converted, 99 


defects, 156, 163 


Brothers of the common 


defends Holy Roman 


life, 186 


Empire, no 


Browning quoted, 213 


eloquence, 148, 153, 165 


Bruno, St., quoted, 118 


hymns, 165 


Buddhism, 83, 121 


parentage, 140-142 


Bull, unam sanctam, 95, 174 


power, 147 ff. 


burnt by Luther, 209 


quoted, 146, 148, 152, 


Burgundy, 120, 139 


154, 155, 165, 166 


Byzantium, 73 



264 



INDEX 



Caligula, 119 


Christ mentioned by Taci- 


Calvin and Calvinism, 


tus, 48 


247 f f ., 255 n. 


monogram, 69 


Canada, missions in, 240 


parable of tree and 


Cannibalism in Europe, 119 


heaven, 83 


Canossa, 149, 175 


victorious, 60 


Canterbury bishopric es- 


Christianity a world-fact, 12 


tablished, IOI 


and Islam, 108 


Capitularies, 113 


established in Rome, 71, 


Carey, Wm., 258 


73,86 


Carl Martel, 108, 109 


law of growth, 260 


Carlyle quoted, 195, 215, 


Christian III., 244 


217, 242 


Christians in secret, 61 


Caroline Books, 113 


Christmas, a.d. 800, 108 


Catholic league, 222 


hymn of Luther, 227 


Chalcedon, council of, 89 


the first, 12 


Charlemagne, 102 


Christmas-tree, the first, 103 


and education, 11 1 


Chrysostom, 90 


compared with Con- 


Cicero and Luther, 198 


stantine, 113 ff. 


Cimbri, 101 


crowned, 108 


Citeaux, 143, 160 


death, 113 


City of God, 113 


his greatness, no 


Civilization born, 9 


private character, 113 


Clairvaux, 144 ff. 


subdues Saxons, 109, 


Clement V., 175 


112 


VII., 238 


work for education, in 


Clovis, 101, 108 


work for the church, 


Cluny, 136, 143, 146 


112 


Coburg, 220, 226 


Charles the Hammer, 108 


Cologne, 181 


V., 209 f f . 


Columba, 98 


Charleston, 249 


Columbanus, 103 


Chaucer, 181 


Columbus, 194 


China, missions in, 240, 260 


Concord, formula and book 


Christ and monasticism, 122 


of, 221 


defeated, 59 


Confession, Augsburg, 219 


divinity, 87 


Westminster, 248 



265 



INDEX 



Confessions, Lutheran, 2igf f . 


Constantinople, downfall of, 


Congregationalism, 254 


171, 193 


Conrad of Germany, 154 


founded, 73 


quoted, 242 


Constantius, father of Con- 


Constance, council of, 


stantine, 62, 63, 65 


176 ff., 182 


son of Constantine, 84 


Constantine, 59 f f. 


Consubstantiation, 248 


a type, 15 


Conversion. See under 


accession, 63 


names 


arch of, 74 


Corruption of church under 


birth and youth, 62 


Constantine, 79 f f. 


compared with Charle- 


under Charlemagne, 


magne, 113 ff. 


116 ff. 


convokes Nicene Coun- 


under Luther, 202 


cil, 72 


of papacy, 117, 176, 191 


Seath, 82 


Copernicus, 194 


establishes Christianity, 


Cotta, Madame, 198 


71 


Councils, Basel, 177 


evil influence of, 80 


Constance, 176 ff., 182 


founds Constantinople, 


Ephesus, 89 


73 


Nice, 72, 88 


his arch in Rome, 74 


of reform, 176 ff., 195 


his sons, 84 


other ecumenical, 88 f f. 


his statue, 70 


Pisa, 176 


is baptized, 82 


Trent, 237, 240 


old age, 79 ff. 


Counter-reformation, 237 f f . 


originates Christian 


Cousin quoted, 135 


monogram, 69 


Cranmer, 251 


religion, 64 


Crawford quoted, 187 


task, 63 ff. 


Creeds, ancient and modern, 


victorious, 69-71 


221 


vision, 66 ff. 


Nicene, 72, 221 


Constantinople becomes cap- 


of Lutheranism, 219 ff. 


ital of Eastern church, 


Westminster, 248 


92, 96 


Crispus, 80 


councils at, 88, 89, 93 n. 


Cromwell, 254 


decays, 108, 109 


Cross exalted, 60, 69, 73 



266 



INDEX 



Cross, vision of, 66 


Divisions of Protestantism, 


Crusades, 169 f f. 


258 


and Bernard, 153 


Doctrine, development of, 


Culture by Anglicans, 253 


87 ff. 


conserved by monasti- 


of Lutheranism, 180, 


cism, 126 


233, 236, 247, 252, 


Cyprian martyred, 51 


255 n. ( See Confes- 




sions.) 


Damascus, 28, 199 


Dollinger quoted, 211 


Dante, 173 


Dominic Guzman, 128 n. 


Dark ages, H4ff. 


Dominicans, 128, 186, 190 


Davidson quoted, 136 


Downfall of Constantinople, 


Decius, Gallus, and Vale- 


171, 193 


rian, persecutions of, 50, 


Duality, 196 


51, 60 


Diirer's painting of Charle- 


Declaration of indepen- 


magne, in 


dence, 242 




Deira, 99 


East, missions in the, 261 


Deluge of blood, 44 


the home of civilization, 


Denmark, 244 


9, 261 


Development not always 


Eastern church originates, 


progress, 13 


92 


Diet of Augsburg, 219, 221 


breach with Rome, 


of Spires, 218 


93 n., 108, 109 


of Worms, 209 ff. 


Eck, 210 ff. 


Diocletian, pillars to, 54 


Eckhart, 186 


wife of, 55, 62 


Ecumenical councils, 88 ff. 


Diocletian and Galerius, 59, 


Edict of Nantes, 249 


62 


Edicts of toleration, 64, 70, 


persecutions of, 60 


218, 222 


Dionysius, his idea, n 


Education and Charle- 


Dispersions of Christians, 


magne, in 


75 


and Luther, 243 ff. 


of Jews, 43 


Edward VI., 253 


Diversity in unity, 258 


prayer-book of, 252 


Divinity of Christ, doctrine 


Egan quoted, 162 


of, 87 f f. 


Egyptian civilization, 9 



267 



INDEX 



Egyptian origin of monasti- 


Formula of concord, 221 


cism, 121, 123 


Four Princes, 14 


Ein' Feste Burg, 226, 245 


Francis of Assissi, 128 n. 


Eisenach, 198 


Franciscans, 128 


Eisleben, 197, 223 


Francke, 257 


Eleanor, 154 


Franks and Germans, 101, 


Elizabeth, 252 


107 n. 


Emerson quoted, 10 


the name, 107 


Encyclopaedia Britannica 


Frederick the Wise, 201, 


quoted, 68, 181 


210, 216 


England and Anselm, 130 


Freeman quoted, 107, 176 


and Wyclif, 179 


French converted, 101 


and Germany, 101, 104, 


reformation, 248 


235 ff., 251 ff. 


revolution, 215, 237, 


bishopric established in, 


241 f f . 


101 


Friends of God, 186 


converted, 99 


Frisians, 103 


reformation in, 250 ff. 


Fulbert, 132 f f. 


Ephesus, council of, 89 


Future of the church, 262 


Paul at, 33 




Epicureans, 42 


Galerius, 63 


Erasmus, 216 


death of, 55, 64 


Erfurt, 198 ff., 211 


edict of toleration, 64 


Essenes, 122 


persecutions of, 52 ff., 


Ethelbert, 100 


60, 61 


Eucharist. See under Lord's 


wife of, 55, 62 


Supper. 


Gallus, persecutions of, 50, 


Eugenius III., 152 


51 


Eusebius quoted, 51, 65, 66, 


Geismar, oak of, 103 


69 


General councils, 88 ff. 


Eutyches, 89 


Genevan reformation, 247 




George Eliot quoted, 186 


Fabian martyred, 51 


George von Frundsberg, 213 


Famine in Europe, 119 


Georgia, 255 


Farrar quoted, 38, 48 


Gibbon quoted, 38, 86 


Feudalism, 139 


German Catholics, 239 


Florence, 187 ff. 


mystics, 185 



268 



INDEX 



Germans conquer Rome, 
107 ff. 
first appearance of, in 

Europe, 101 
the name, 102 
Germany and England, 101, 
104, 235 ff., 251 ff. 
converted, 102 
in early times, 101 
Goths converted, 97 
Grseco-Roman influence, 46, 

9i 
Great schism, 93 

of 'popes, 176 
Greece, glory of, 10, 11, 41 
Greek church, breach with 
Rome, 93 n., 108 
originates 
philosophy and Chris- 
tianity, 90 
Green quoted, 256 
Gregory I. (the Great), 95, 
99, 109 
Nazianzen quoted, 80 
VII., 124, 149, 175, 177 
Guizot quoted, no 
Gustavus Adolphus, 244 f f. 

Vasa, 244 
Gutenberg, 194 

Halle, 257 

Harrison quoted, 128 
Heathenism banished from 

Rome, 87 
Hebrews, epistle to, quoted, 

53 

Heidelberg, 181, 207 



Helena, 62, 72 
Heloise, 132 ff. 
Henry of England, 150 

IV., 149 

VIII., 235, 250 f f . 
Heraclea, battle of, 69 
Hermann, 107 
Herodotus quoted, 9 
Herod's temple, 21 
Hidden ears, 163, 166, 232 
Hildebrand, 124, 149, 175, 

177 

History, birthplace of, 9 
central year of, n 

Holland, 185, 243, 248, 254 

Holy League, 222 

Holy Roman Empire, 108 ff. 

Horn quoted, 196 

Hostile testimony, 234 ff. 

Huguenots, 248, 249 

Humanism, 198 

Hungarians, 115 

Huns, 115, 116 

Hus, 178, 181 ff., 195, 214, 
215 

Hussite wars, 184 

Hymns of Bernard, 165 
of Luther, 226, 227, 245 
of Wesley, 255 

Hypatia, death of, 81 

Ignatius, 37, 50 

Iliad, 41 

Imitation of Christ, 186 

India, missions in, 240, 257, 
258, 260 

Individualism of mona- 
chism, 125, 174 



269 



INDEX 



Indulgences, 203 ff. 


Justification by faith, 


233, 


Inkstand, Luther's, 217 


236 




Innocent I., 95 


Justin, 37 




II., 150-152 


Justus Jonas, 210 




III., 174, 177 






Inquisition, 189 


King James version, 251 


Institutes of Calvin, 248 


Krauth quoted, 194 




Invasions of barbarians, 115 






Inventions of Renaissance, 


Labarum, 69, 70 




194 


Latimer, 252 




Ireland converted, 98 


Law of growth, 260 




sends missionaries to 


Leadership, qualities of 


, 195 


Germany, 102 


League, Catholic, 222 




Irene, 109 


" Holy," 222 




Islam, decisive battle with, 


Protestant, 221 




108 


Smalkaldian, 222 




Italian Protestants, 190 


Lecky quoted, 129 
Leipzig, 205, 207, 211 




Jacobs quoted, 186, 252 


Leo I. (the Great), 95, 


109 


James I., 251, 254 


III., 108, 109, 120 




the apostle, 37 


X., 203, 208 




Japan, missions in, 240, 260 


Licinius, 64, 66, 69, 70 




Jerome, 90 


Lilly quoted, 178, 201, 


204, 


and Oxford, 181 


235 f f- 




of Prague, 178, 181 ff. 


Lombard estates, 109 




the monk, 129 


Lord's Supper, 180, 182 


, 247 


Jerusalem, siege of, 46 


Lorenzo de' Medici, 187 ff. 


temple of, 21, 85 


Lothaire, 150 




Jesuits, 240 


Louis VI., 150 




Jewish influence ends, 46 


VII., 154 




Joan of Arc, 185 


XIV., 249 




John the apostle, 37 


Loyola, 240 




John Chrysostom, 90 


Luther, 169 ff. 




Julian, the apostate, 84 f f., 


a monk, 126 




118 


a type, 15 




Jupiter Capitolinus de- 


as a revolutionist, 


235 


graded, 87 


Bible, 198, 201, 203, 


216 



270 



INDEX 



Luther, birth of, 194, 197 
bravery, 217 
burns bull, 209 
catechisms, 219, 221 
cloister, 200 
Coburg, 220 
compared with Paul, 
196, 199, 229 ff. 
with Bernard, 199, 
232 
conversion, 199 
daughter's deathbed, 228 
death, 223 
doctrine, 180, 206, 221, 

233, 236 it, 247 
excommunication, 209 
gradual opposition, 208 
Henry VIIL, 251 
hymns, 226, 227 
indulgences, 203 
influenced by Wyclif 
through Hus, 181, 
214 
by Tauler, 186 
by Staupitz, 201, I 
202 
journey to Rome, 202 
marriage, 228 
mistakes, 228 
musical talent, 198, 211, 

221 
ninety-five theses, 203, 

206, 208 
personal appearance, 21 1 
prayer at Worms, 224 
preacher and teacher, 
201 



Luther, qualities of leader- 
ship, 195 
quoted, 141, 200, 208, 

211, 223 ff., 243 
Tetzel, 204 
tremendous influence of, 

233, 235 ff., 251 ff. 
trial at Worms, 209 ff. 
Wartburg, 216 
writings, 231 
youth, 197 
Lutheran movement in Eng- 
land, 252 
Lutheranism, distinctive 

doctrines of, 233, 236, 247, 
255 n. 
Lutherans, 246 
Lutzen, battle of, 245 



Mabillon quoted, 117 
McCabe quoted, 137, 146, 

160, 161 
Mahometans, 153 
Marcellinus quoted, 86 
Marcus Aurelius, persecu- 
tions of, 50 
Martin V., 176 
Martyr, the name, 76 
Martyrs. See under names. 
Martyrdom described, 53 

influence of, 76, 78 
Mary of England, 252, 253 
Massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew's day, 249 
Maurice of Saxony, 222 
Maxentius, 64-69 
Maximin, 64-69 



271 



INDEX 



Mayflower, 254 
Medal commemorating de- 
struction of Christianity, 

54 
Melanchthon, 183, 220, 230 

Methodists, 246, 255 

Michelangelo, 194 

Michelet quoted, 120, 242 

Milan, 151 

Milton quoted, 190 

Missions, Africa, 260, 262 

Apostolic, 29 ff. 

Baptists, 257 

Britain, 99 

Canada, 240 

China, 240 

English, 99 

French, 101 

Germans, 102 

Goths, 97 

home, 247 

India, 240, 257, 258 

Irish, 98 

Japan, 240 

Lutherans, 247, 257 

nineteenth century, 

257 ff- 
organized activities, 

257 ff- 
Roman Catholics, 24of f., 

259 
Scotch, 98 

South America, 240 
Westward growth of, 

260 
Monasticism, 120 ff. 
abuses, 146 



Monte Cassino, 124 

Moravians, 184 

Motto of reformation, 229 

Musicus, 198 

Mysticism, origin of, 10, 131 

Mystics, German, 185 

Nantes, Edict of, 249 
Naming the church, 217 
Neoplatonism, 83 ff. 
Netherlands, 185, 243, 248, 

254 
Nero and Acte, 61 

and Constantine, 72, 73 

and Paul, 45 

burns Rome, 47 

his character, 38 

persecutions, 46 f f. 
New England, 254 
Newman quoted, 117, 129, 

236 
Nibelungenlied, 209 
Nice, council of, 72, 88 
Nicomedia, 52, 82 
Ninety-five theses, 203, 206, 

208 
Normans, 115 
Northmen, 115 
Norway, 244 
Nunneries, 147 

Oak of Geismar, 103 

Odyssey, 41 

Origen, 51 

Oxford and Jerome, 181 

and Methodists, 255 

and Wyclif, 179 



272 



INDEX 



Pachomius, 123 

Pagan revival, 83 ff., 114, 

118 
Painter quoted, 243 
Palace school, 112 
Papacy, birth of, 91 

decay, 174 

degradation, 117 ff., 176, 
191 

growth, 94 f f . 

opposed by Luther, 208 
Papias, 37 
Parable of tree and leaven, 

83 
Paraclete, 134 
Paris, 181 

and Abelard, 131, 132, 

137 
Parthenon, 9, 10 
Patriarchs, 93 n. 
Patrick, 98 
Paul, a type, 15, 37 

adventures, 32, 33 

and contemporary phi- 
losophies, 42 

and Luther, 196, 198, 
229 f f. 

and Nero, 45 

and Plato, 40 

and Rome, 43, 46 

conditions of his times, 
38 ff. 

conversion, 27, 28, 68 

death, 44, 45 

III., 240 

labors, 26, 30 ff., 35 

methods, 33-35 



of Thebes, 123 

planter of Christianity, 

29 f f-, 45 

sketch of life, 23 ff. 

vision fulfilled, 262 

witness to Christianity, 
21 ff., 29 

writings, 36 
Peace of Augsburg, 222, 245 

of Westphalia, 246 
Pennington quoted, 175 
Pepin the short, 109 
Pere Lachaise, 137 
Persecutions, cessation of, 

79 

England, 252, 253 

foretold, 44 

history of, 44 ff., 75 

Huguenots, 249 

philosophy of, 75 ff. 

reasons for, 52 
Person of Christ, doctrine 

of, 87 f f. 
Peter the apostle, 37, 230 

the hermit, 153 
Petersen brothers, 244 
Phidias, 10 
Philip the fair, 175 

of Hesse, 228 
Philosophy and Christian- 
ity, 90 

in Paul's time, 42 

of persecutions, 75 ff. 

origin of, 10 
Pietism, 256 

Pilate mentioned by Taci- 
tus, 48 



18 



273 



INDEX 



Pilate's stairway, 203 

Pisa, council of, 176 

Plan of this work, 7, 13, 14, 

17 
Plato, 10, 131 

his desire fulfilled, 40 

his despair, 39 
Platonism, the new, 83 f f. 
Plutschau, 257 
Poitiers, battle of, 108 

bishop of, 147 
Polycarp, 37, 50 
Poole quoted, 181 
Pope, the name, 93 
Popes. See under names. 
Prague, 181, 185 
Prayer-book, English, 251 
Prayer of Luther, 224 
Presbyterians, 246, 248 f f . 
Prince George, 216 
Printing-press, 194, 207 
Protestantism, birth and 
growth of, 207 ff. 
divisions of, 258 
occasioned through ca- 
thedral, 11, 204, 208 
Puritanism, 253 f f. 
Pyramid, 9 

Rationalism, origin of, 10, 

131 
Reformation. See under 

names. 
Refuge from the world, 120 
Remigius, 101 
Renaissance, 171 ff-> *93 
types quoted, 235 f f- 



Renan quoted, 229, 231 
Results of reformation, 

234 ff- 

Revival of learning, 171 ff., 

193 

of paganism, 83 ff., 114, 

118 
Rheims, baptism of Clovis, 

101 
Ricci, 240 
Ridley, 252 
Rodrigo Borgia, 189 
Roger Bacon, 127 
Rome and Christians, 52, 54 

and Luther, 202 

burning of, 47 

in Paul's time, 38, 39, 

43 
influences form of 

Christianity, 91 
Paul's desire to see, 46 
receives Christianity, 

7i, 73 
the eternal city, 94 
yields to Germany, 
107 f f. 
Roscellin, 131 
Rousseau, 237 
Russian church, 93 n. 

St. Bartholomew's day, 249 
St. Denis, 134, 146, 156 
St. Gildas, 134, 135. H6 
St. Peter's Cathedral, 9, "1 

48, 108, 204, 208 
Saints. See under names. 
San Marco, 187 



274 



INDEX 



Saracens, 169 




Spires, diets of, 218 ff., 222 


Savonarola, 126, 186 ff., 


195 


Stalker quoted, 33, 45 


Saxons converted, 109, 112 


Stanley quoted, 64 n., 72, 82, 


Scala santa, 203 




123 


Scandinavia, 244, 246 




Staupitz, 201, 202 


Schaff quoted, 61, 62, 72 


73> 


Stephen VI., 117 


90, 102, 218, 220, 228, 


255 


Stephen martyred, 44 


Schiller quoted, 44 




Stille quoted, 174 


Schism, great papal, ijt 




Stoics, 42 


the great, 93 




Storrs quoted, 108, 116, 119, 


Scholasticism, 128 ff., 


163, 


140 ff., 157, 162 


174 




Stuart dynasty, 252 


Scotch reformation, 248, 


250 


Sunday, origin of name, 


Scotland converted, 98 




64 m 


Sectarianism, 258 




Sweden, 244 


Seneca, 38, 135 




Swiss reformation, 247, 248 


Sens, 159 




Symonds quoted, 173, 188, 


Septimius Severus, perse- 


193 


cutions of, So 






Severinus, 103 




Tacitus quoted, 46, 48, 60 


Sigismund and Hus, 


182, 


Taine quoted, 102 


183, 215 




Tauler, 186 


Simeon Stylites, 123 




Temple, attempt to rebuild, 


Sincerity, 197, 229 




85 


Sismondi quoted, 79 




description of, 21 


Smalkald articles, 221 




Tennyson quoted, 185, 195 


league, 222 




Tertullian quoted, 44, 51, 55, 


war, 222 




74, 76, 99 


Smith, Gregory, quoted, 


125 


Tescelin, 139, 140 


Socrates, 10 




Teutoburger forest, 107 


and Aristodemus, 4] 




Teutons, 101, 102, 104 


Sohm quoted, 42, 81, 127 


Theodoret quoted, 62 


South America, missions 


in, 


Theodosius the great, 87, 89 


240 




Theses of Luther, 203, 206, 


Carolina, 249 




208 


Spalatin, 208, 211 




Thirty years' war, 244 


Spener, 257 




Thirty-nine articles, 251 



27s 



INDEX 



Thomas a Kempis, 186 


Vezaly, 153 


Aquinas, 127 


Virgil, 127 


Three peoples of antiquity, 


Vision of Constantine, 66 f f. 


43 


Voltaire quoted, 140 


Tiberius, 119 




Titian, 193 


Waldenses, 190 


Titus, arch of, 74 


Warner quoted, 243 


Tolerance, 229 


Wars. See under names. 


Toleration, edicts of, 64, 70, 


Wartburg, 216 


218, 222 


Wesley, John and Charles, 


Tours, battle of, 108 


255 


Trajan's persecutions, 49, 


Westminster confession, 248 


50, 60 


Westphalia, treaty of, 246 


Transubstantiation, 180, 182, 


Westward trend of Chris- 


247 


tianity, 260 


Treaty of Augsburg, 222, 


Whitefield, 255 


245 


Willebrord, 103 


of Westphalia, 246 


William of Aquitaine, 147 


Trent, council of, 237, 240 


of Champeaux, 131 


Trialogus of Wyclif, 180 


of Thierry, 156, 158 


Trinity and Abelard, 156 


Williams, Roger, 257 n. 


Turks, 73, 171, 219 


Wilson quoted, 191 




Winfrid, 101-103 


Ueberweg quoted, 128 


Wittenberg, 194, 201, 203, 


Ulfilas, 97, 98, 102 


206, 222 


Unam sanctam bull, 95, 174 


Worms, diet of, 209 f f., 222, 


Undine, a symbol, 42 


224 


Unitarians, 254 


Wyclif, 178 ff., 214 


United Brethren, 184 




Unity of the church, 262 


Xavier, 240 


Universalists, 254 


York, 64 


Urban II., 153 






Zeuxis, 10 


Valerian, persecutions of, 50 


Ziegenbalg, 257 


Varus, 107 


Zinzendorf, 184 


Vesper hymn of Abelard, 


Ziska, 184 


138 


Zwingli, 228, 247 



276 



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